This View of Life
Magazine

Human psychology evolved over millions of years in relatively stable environments in small-scale communities. But, in the modern world, evolutionary mismatch can occur where a trait adapted for one environment is out of place where we live today.

The fact that evolutionary selection pressures so often result in social pathologies might be hard to accept, but once faced squarely it can lead to an optimistic point of view.

Human beings are subject to the workings of evolution and are also aware of their role as shapers of the environment so as to consciously direct evolutionary change.

On a global scale, mismatches between ethnic identity and nation-states have caused more death and suffering than any variety of extremism.

My approach is explored by considering Aristotelian Causal Categories, focusing on Final Cause. I then consider the possibility of understanding this question from an ‘internalist’ perspective.

In a world that is being ripped apart by polarized views and fake news, scientific discourse might be the last bastion of constructive disagreement based on respect for objective knowledge.

If most MD, as it is currently diagnosed, is not a disorder, should we keep calling it Major Depression?

ProSocial is inherently about equity and co-production starting at the scale of small groups and then applying the same principles at multiple levels.

A new study shows that chimpanzees and bonobos are far more similar in their gender roles than previously thought. In order to understand the range of complexity in our evolutionary cousins’ social lives, perhaps we first need to recognize the range of complexity that exists in our own.

The hardest thing for a fish to see is water. This adage aptly expresses the difficulty we have understanding our own cultures. We spot the foibles of other cultures--even our own cultures in the past--but are blind to our current foibles.

ProSocial.World, a project by David Sloan Wilson, is a practical method for improving the efficacy of groups and wellbeing of their members. Why not use the method in our own college classes?

Two new books published in 2018 emphasize the role of fa’asamoa in amplifying “sticky” cultural concepts or memes—football and tattooing—in cultural adaptation.