Category: Philosophy

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May 10, 2024

The Philosophy of Evolutionary Theory, with Elliott Sober

Philosophers have a major role to play in scientific inquiry, with topic areas such as physics and biology raising different sets of issues.

October 3, 2023

Why Teleology is the Elephant in Evolutionary Theory’s Room

The common denominator here is not consciousness, but the spontaneous emergence of systems that are agents, systems with teleological properties: the “end-directed” properties that unequivocally characterize life.

September 28, 2023

Can Evolution be Understood as a Conscious Process?

My approach is explored by considering Aristotelian Causal Categories, focusing on Final Cause. I then consider the possibility of understanding this question from an ‘internalist’ perspective.

September 21, 2023

One Culture, Two Cultures? How Many Cultures, How Long?

When asked “Can Evolution be Conscious?” reactions can occur aptly reflecting the “informal definition” (as stated in most dictionaries) of schizoid, that is, “having inconsistent or seemingly contradictory elements.”

September 12, 2023

Can Evolution Be Conscious of Itself? Yes, It Can!

Human beings are subject to the workings of evolution and are also aware of their role as shapers of the environment so as to consciously direct evolutionary change.

September 5, 2023

The Consciousness of Detachment and the Detachment of Consciousness

To speak of an evolution of consciousness as a natural event is to be committed to the idea that consciousness can be a further expression of something which is not yet consciousness but is a prerequisite for the possibility of consciousness.

August 16, 2023

The Evolution of Consciousness Enables Conscious Evolution

Understanding the evolution of consciousness provides the scaffolding for evolutionary science itself to consciously evolve, and to help human individuals and groups do so as well.

August 10, 2023

The Origins and Evolutionary Effects of Consciousness

How consciousness evolved and how consciousness has come to affect evolutionary processes are related issues.

August 8, 2023

Conscious Evolution is a Category Mistake

No, evolution is not a conscious process, and to think so is an example of what philosophers call a category mistake, predicated on a fallacy of equivocation.

May 23, 2023

Pragmatism as the Third Way of Entrepreneurship: A Conversation with Trygve Throntveit

Positive systemic change must be the target of selection. Alternative social practices must be oriented toward the target of selection.

June 7, 2022

The Vienna Circle and Pragmatist Clubs: Variations to Select from for Evolutionary Philosophy

What’s needed is a modern framework for completing the Darwinian revolution for philosophy and all other human-related disciplines.

January 28, 2020

Is Evolutionary Psychology Impossible?

Subrena Smith recently argued that “evolutionary psychology, as it is currently understood, is…impossible."

January 15, 2020

Why Evolutionary Psychology (Probably) Isn’t Possible

Evolutionary psychologists have not shown that there are specific psychological programs that are written in the genetic foundation of our species. This is the challenge they must meet. Header image credit to ClaudeAI.uk

January 15, 2019

Welcome to the Noösphere

An evolutionary teleological view would be that no matter where you are in the cosmos, that there is, under the right conditions, a direction toward more complex, organized structures (both physical and non-physical).

October 9, 2018

Saving Social Constructivism

Social constructivism is on trial for being an academic fraud. Can it be rescued and does it have valid points to make about science after all?

March 12, 2018

Evolution and the Enigma of Reason: Brian Boyd Interviews Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber on their New Book

In The Enigma of Reason, Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber crack the code on one of the greatest evolutionary mysteries of all time.

February 21, 2017

Why Humanist Values Will Prevail: A Cultural Evolutionary View

Our geopolitical world seems increasingly unstable, and some see this instability as a threat to Humanist values. But do not fear.