altruism – 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 Trans-Species Perspective on Nature http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/11/trans-species-perspective/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/11/trans-species-perspective/#comments Sat, 27 Nov 2010 19:47:24 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=1782 Continue reading A Trans-Species Perspective on Nature

]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/11/trans-species-perspective/feed/ 12 Morals without God? http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/10/morals-without-god/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/10/morals-without-god/#comments Sun, 17 Oct 2010 21:56:27 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=1557 I was born in Den Bosch, the city after which Hieronymus Bosch named himself.1 This obviously does not make me an expert on the Dutch painter, but having grown up with his statue on the market square, I have always been fond of his imagery, his symbolism, and how it relates to humanity’s place in

Continue reading Morals without God?

]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/10/morals-without-god/feed/ 34 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

Continue reading Moral Camouflage or Moral Monkeys?

]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2010/07/moral-camouflage-or-moral-monkeys/feed/ 13 Empathic Concern and Altruism in Humans http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2009/10/empathic-concern-and-altruism-in-humans/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2009/10/empathic-concern-and-altruism-in-humans/#comments Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:25:04 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=480 We humans spend a remarkable amount of time, money, and energy to benefit others, including family, friends, and strangers. Why do we do it? Do we ever care about others for their sakes and not simply for our own? Is our ultimate goal always and exclusively self-benefit, or are we capable of caring about another

Continue reading Empathic Concern and Altruism in Humans

]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2009/10/empathic-concern-and-altruism-in-humans/feed/ 28 Does Evolution Explain Our Behaviour? http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2009/09/does-evolution-explain-our-behaviour/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2009/09/does-evolution-explain-our-behaviour/#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:34:32 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=426 Does evolution explain our behaviour? The short answer is: No. And you may well concur with that answer but ‘out there’ there is an increasing constituency of thinkers claiming quite otherwise. Along with the claims that the brain explains the mind and activity in one bit of brain or another corresponds to love, joy, conscience,

Continue reading Does Evolution Explain Our Behaviour?

]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2009/09/does-evolution-explain-our-behaviour/feed/ 16 How Humans Became Such Other-Regarding Apes http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2009/08/how-humans-became-such-other-regarding-apes/ http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2009/08/how-humans-became-such-other-regarding-apes/#comments Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:28:23 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/humannature/?p=310 I am an anthropologist and primate sociobiologist who seeks to understand, step by Darwinian step, how apes could have evolved to imagine and care about what the lives of others might be like. I believe that such questing for inter-subjective engagement laid the foundations for significant later developments such as language and cumulative culture. My

Continue reading How Humans Became Such Other-Regarding Apes

]]> http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2009/08/how-humans-became-such-other-regarding-apes/feed/ 25