Comment by Morgan Matthew on July 15, 2009 at 11:16pm

Comment by Dave G on July 16, 2009 at 12:05am

Excellent as always, H.E. And I also highly recommend Breaking The Spell to anyone interested in such things.

Comment by Human Evolution on July 16, 2009 at 12:15am

Thanks Dave. It is one of my favorite books!

Thanks Morgan!

Comment by GT on July 21, 2009 at 11:27pm

Good work. We definitely need more ‘natural’ science education, throw in some history and philosophy of science and it’s a good mix.

Religion/belief is very much primed within that room of tension, that place of fossil-osophlising, in that grey space between the apparent natural and human ecosystems, that is within the human ecotone… Fertile ground to drive the wedge, the dichotomy into our ecosystem.

I found Charles R. Darwin’s 1871 publication; "The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex", really interesting. Particularly in Chapter V: “ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL FACULTIES DURING PRIMEVAL AND CIVILISED TIMES” (pp. 158-184).

“In order that primeval men, or the ape-like progenitors of man, should become social, they must have acquired the same instinctive feelings……They would have felt uneasy when separated from their comrades, for whom they would have felt some degree of love; they would have warned each other of danger, and have given mutual aid in attack or defence. All this implies some degree of sympathy, fidelity, and courage……

The love of approbation and the dread of infamy, as well as the bestowal of praise or blame, are primarily due, as we have seen in the third chapter, to the instinct of sympathy; and this instinct no doubt was originally acquired, like all the other social instincts, through natural selection.

There can be no doubt that a tribe including many members who, from possessing in a high degree the spirit of patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage, and sympathy, were always ready to give aid to each other and to sacrifice themselves for the common good, would be victorious over most other tribes; and this would be natural selection.”

And don’t forget to celebrate the great man; there are two milestones this year -
• 200 years since his birth and
• 150 years since the publication of the Origin of the Species.

Have a look at -
http://www.darwin200.org/

Darwin electronically is available online at -
http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=F937.1&pageseq=1

I also notice on Nelson’s page (this site) has Darwin downloads (plus others).

And this interesting website –
http://www.savagescience.org/

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