Robert, I couldn't agree with you more that building the institutions of good government is the key to an improved quality of life. I have been especially interested in this subject with respect to Mexico, where I have spent a lot of time. I have come to the tentative conclusion that when the size o...

"Let us understand Darwinism so we can walk in the opposite direction when it comes to setting up society." -Richard Dawkins, The Washington Post Magazine I had given up on this forum as being dominated by a bunch of reactionary social Darwinists, but this discussion is luring me back. I j...

I just finished THREE CUPS OF TEA by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Is there anyone out there who has read it and wants to discuss it?

Hellooooooooooo...... Is anybody else out there actually reading this book????? I found this chapter fascinating, particularly the author's analysis of our common-sense notions of causality and how different they are from current scientific descriptions of reality. And yet, as Pinker illustrates, ou...

It seems to me that the central question here is what mental constructs are innate and what is learned. The second issue addressed is whether language determines thought or vice versa. Pinker makes a good argument that a cognitive framework is built into the structure of the human brain which predet...

I'm about 100 pages in and still enjoying it.

Yes, MA, that does indeed help. Thank you.

There is a lot of good discussion already on this topic, and at the risk of being hopelessly behind, I have to confess that I'm still hung up on this notion of an intuitive sense of right and wrong. Specifically, I'm trying to discern the meaning of the word "intuition" (I am using the wor...

Disclaimer: I have not yet read any posts for this topic except the original question. I believe Arendt's main point, although she made many others, was that it is only morally acceptable to work to change a system from the inside if you support the general aims of that system; because even though y...

MA wrote: I'm distinguishing between the two on the basis of where the threat originates. An animal is dominant if it is recognized as a threat to anyone who would challenge its authority. But someone like an FDR presents, themselves, no particular threat. We respond to their authority because we t...