responsibility – 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 Whole-Body Apoptosis and the Meanings of Lives http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/12/whole-body-apoptosis/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/12/whole-body-apoptosis/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:24:44 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=3011 Continue reading Whole-Body Apoptosis and the Meanings of Lives

]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/12/whole-body-apoptosis/feed/ 8 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 The Meat Eaters http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/09/the-meat-eaters/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/09/the-meat-eaters/#comments Sat, 18 Sep 2010 18:26:15 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=1414 Viewed from a distance, the natural world often presents a vista of sublime, majestic placidity. Yet beneath the foliage and hidden from the distant eye, a vast, unceasing slaughter rages. Wherever there is animal life, predators are stalking, chasing, capturing, killing, and devouring their

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]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/09/the-meat-eaters/feed/ 68 Participants and Spectators http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/04/participants_and_spectators/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/04/participants_and_spectators/#comments Mon, 19 Apr 2010 04:07:16 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=1015 I

There remains great controversy in philosophy over the issue of how we should make sense of what people do, of their actions, as opposed to explaining what happens to them. Some philosophers believe that if the question is: what distinguishes naturally occurring events like bodily movements in space from metaphysically distinct purposive doings initiated

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]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/04/participants_and_spectators/feed/ 38 Moral Skepticism and Moral Disagreement: Developing an Argument from Nietzsche http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/03/moral-skepticism-and-moral-disagreement-developing-an-argument-from-nietzsche/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/03/moral-skepticism-and-moral-disagreement-developing-an-argument-from-nietzsche/#comments Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:24:41 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=983 By “moral skepticism,” I shall mean the view that there are no objective moral ‘facts’ or ‘truths.’ Moral skeptics from Friedrich Nietzsche to Charles Stevenson to John Mackie have appealed to the purported fact of widespread and intractable moral disagreement to support the skeptical conclusion. Typically, such arguments invoke anthropological reports about the moral views

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]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/03/moral-skepticism-and-moral-disagreement-developing-an-argument-from-nietzsche/feed/ 32 Narrative and Personal Good http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/01/narrative-and-personal-good/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/01/narrative-and-personal-good/#comments Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:00:30 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=755 It is now something of a commonplace that we think about our lives in story form.[1] According to a recent article in the New York Times, psychological research into the personal narratives we tell supports the idea that we are natural storytellers. [2] “The human brain,” the article reports, “has a natural affinity for narrative

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