Darwin – 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 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 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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