evolution – On the Human http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human a project of the National Humanities Center Thu, 14 Sep 2017 16:39:50 +0000 en-US hourly 1 A Suicidal Tendency in the Humanities http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2012/01/a-suicidal-tendency-in-the-humanities/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2012/01/a-suicidal-tendency-in-the-humanities/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:09:23 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=3088 There is an interesting question as to why those in the humanities – most notably literary studies – have felt so dissatisfied with their performance as not just to re-invent themselves – which is fine and healthy – but to attempt to destroy their very rationale. I want to examine a tendency amongst some of

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]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2012/01/a-suicidal-tendency-in-the-humanities/feed/ 4 Loaves, Fishes, and the Human Side of Ecosystems http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/10/human-side-of-ecosystems/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/10/human-side-of-ecosystems/#comments Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:20:57 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=2862

Professor Les Kaufman

Slow news days send hungry journalists back to the old springheads of mystery and metamorphosis: dark matter, how the brain really works, human cyborgs, life on other worlds. The nature of humanity’s relationship with Nature — the oldest campfire subject on the books, and kissing cousin to the meaning of life —

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]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/10/human-side-of-ecosystems/feed/ 9 Human Language—Human Consciousness http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/01/human-language-human-consciousness/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/01/human-language-human-consciousness/#comments Mon, 03 Jan 2011 03:58:34 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=1904 Continue reading Human Language—Human Consciousness

]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/01/human-language-human-consciousness/feed/ 19 Temes: An Emerging Third Replicator http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/08/temes-an-emerging-third-replicator/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/08/temes-an-emerging-third-replicator/#comments Mon, 23 Aug 2010 05:25:46 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=1247 All around us information seems to be multiplying at an ever increasing pace. New books are published, new designs for toasters and i-gadgets appear, new music is composed or synthesised and, perhaps above all, new content is uploaded into cyberspace. This is rather strange. We know that matter and energy cannot increase but apparently information

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]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/08/temes-an-emerging-third-replicator/feed/ 37 The Evolved Apprentice http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/08/the-evolved-apprentice/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/08/the-evolved-apprentice/#comments Mon, 09 Aug 2010 13:00:38 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=1209 Two Framing Ideas About Human Evolution.

Human evolutionary change has been rapid and extensive; so much so that the genetic similarity and recent divergence between the human and the chimp lineages came as a profound surprise. Three million years ago humans were relatively minor elements of a rich East African mammalian fauna. Since then, our

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]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/08/the-evolved-apprentice/feed/ 10 Moral Camouflage or Moral Monkeys? http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/07/moral-camouflage-or-moral-monkeys/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/07/moral-camouflage-or-moral-monkeys/#comments Sun, 18 Jul 2010 23:07:17 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=1186 In “The Metaphysician’s Nightmare”, Bertrand Russell described a Hell in which there is a special torment for practitioners of each branch of scholarly inquiry. In the place in Hell reserved for statisticians, for example, a pack of monkeys walk aimlessly and endlessly on typewriters, each time creating a perfect rendition of a Shakespearean sonnet. Our

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]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/07/moral-camouflage-or-moral-monkeys/feed/ 13 Late Darwin and the Problem of the Human http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/06/late-darwin-and-the-problem-of-the-human/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/06/late-darwin-and-the-problem-of-the-human/#comments Mon, 21 Jun 2010 04:12:56 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=1120 Darwin’s radical new history of the world did not give a central place to the human. It challenged human exceptionalism and emphasised what was shared, across all organisms extant and extinct. He thought of himself initially as a geologist, so was constantly alert to the ghosting presence of past life forms, visible now only as

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]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/06/late-darwin-and-the-problem-of-the-human/feed/ 11 Common Ancestry and Natural Selection in Darwin’s Origin http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/06/common-ancestry-and-natural-selection-in-darwin%e2%80%99s-origin/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/06/common-ancestry-and-natural-selection-in-darwin%e2%80%99s-origin/#comments Sun, 06 Jun 2010 16:13:24 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=1104 This is a précis of an argument that I developed in an article called “Did Darwin Write the Origin Backwards?” The article was published in 2009 and may be found on my web set at http://philosophy.wisc.edu/sober/recent.html. An expanded version of the argument is the first chapter of a book that I’m publishing at the end

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]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/06/common-ancestry-and-natural-selection-in-darwin%e2%80%99s-origin/feed/ 13 On the Human: Rethinking the natural selection of human language http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/02/on-the-human-rethinking-the-natural-selection-of-human-language/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/02/on-the-human-rethinking-the-natural-selection-of-human-language/#comments Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:32:43 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=881 Introduction

Since Darwin’s time, the human language capacity has been a perennially cited paragon of extreme complexity that defies the explanatory powers of natural selection. And it is not just critics of Darwinism who have argued that this most distinctive human capacity is problematic. Alfred Russel Wallace—the co-discoverer of natural selection theory and in many

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]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/02/on-the-human-rethinking-the-natural-selection-of-human-language/feed/ 30 Does Culture Prevent or Drive Human Evolution? http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2009/12/does-culture-prevent-or-drive-human-evolution/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2009/12/does-culture-prevent-or-drive-human-evolution/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:25:38 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=705 As a molecular anthropologist, my research involves using genetic data to address questions of anthropological interest about the origins, history, migration, structure, and relationships of human populations. I frequently am asked to give lectures to nonspecialist audiences on insights from genetics into human evolution, and invariably during the ensuing discussion period the viewpoint will be

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