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Science and reason is all about... science and reason. News and explanations of recent developments in the most intriguing branches of science. Philosophical and political issues of relevance are also discussed.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'morality'
Easily Grossed Out? You Might Be A Conservative!
Easily Grossed Out? You Might Be A Conservative! (6/5/09)Are you someone who squirms when confronted with slime, shudders at stickiness or gets grossed out by gore? Do crawly insects make you cringe or dead bodies make you blanch?If so, chances are y...
Moral neuropolitics and ideology
An interesting paper was recently brought to my attention. It's all worth reading, but I want to focus on one specific passage, because I think it spotlights a very important question, and provides a springboard for discussion of a number of signific...
Altruism and economics
Another shocker: even economists may have to take into account that altruistic behavior, not just selfish behavior, can be rational, while selfishness can be suboptimal. Gordon Gekko, the Republican Party, and the Chicago School of Economics may not ...
Moral choice: fairness, utility, and the insula
We continue to learn more about the neuropsychological basis of moral thinking and moral emotions in humans:Justice In The Brain: Equity And Efficiency Are Encoded Differently (5/8/08)Which is better, giving more food to a few hungry people or lettin...
What Pinker said
The Stupidity of DignityTo understand the source of this topsy-turvy value system, one has to look more deeply at the currents that underlie the Council. Although the Dignity report presents itself as a scholarly deliberation of universal moral conce...
Cheating
It's certainly appropriate – as well as hilarious – to draw the analogy between humans and slime molds. Kurt Vonnegut, Samuel Clemens, and H. L. Mencken would approve. But there's serious truth in it: Some cheaters can keep it...
