Introduction. Following are two sections from the dissertation: “The Possibility Conditions of Narrative Identity“. Though I intended to include much more Jaynesian theory, I think these two sections will be most accessible for Jaynesians. The rest is also pretty compatible with Jaynes. What my dissertation did was to highlight the narrative component of consciousness and … Continue reading “The Cultural History of Inner Mind Space”
Tag: Evolutionary Psychology
The Possibility Conditions of Narrative Identity
Each of us constructs and lives a ‘narrative’ . . . this narrative is us, our identities — Oliver Sacks. This dissertation is the fruit of my research on the concept of narrative identity, i.e. the claim that our sense of self is structured like a story. While investigating this concept it became clear that … Continue reading “The Possibility Conditions of Narrative Identity”
Darwinian Conservatism and the Liberal Welfare State
§1. Introduction. In his book Darwinian Conservatism the political scientist Larry Arnhart makes the case that traditional conservatism is the right political philosophy for humanity to follow because “it rests on a view of human nature that is supported by Darwinian biology” (Arnhart, 10). Arnhart developed his case by way of defending five propositions, each … Continue reading “Darwinian Conservatism and the Liberal Welfare State”
On Trump: Diagnosing 301.81 and the Goldwater Rule
During the 2015/16 US presidential primaries consensus emerged among health professionals [1], knowledgeable journalists [2,3,4] and those engaged in amateur diagnoses [5] that the psychological profile of then presidential candidate Donald Trump hovered somewhere between having a (curable) narcissist character trait of a malignant kind and suffering from (irreversible) Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). Making such … Continue reading “On Trump: Diagnosing 301.81 and the Goldwater Rule”
Entertaining, Type-II Error-prone, Axiomatic Skepticism: An Incomplete Form of Systemic Doubt
Review of “The Perks of Paranoia” (Video; 2013; 3.30 mins) by Christopher Griffin. Though the creator of the entertaining video, Christopher Griffin, used the fruitful idea of “hyper-active threat detection” derived from evolutionary psychology to explain the tendency of some hyper-active brains to see conspiracies where there are none, he is only giving a part … Continue reading “Entertaining, Type-II Error-prone, Axiomatic Skepticism: An Incomplete Form of Systemic Doubt”