Free download of my book, Standards for Behavioral Commitments: Philosophy of Humanism

Link to a free download of Standards for Behavioral Commitments: Philosophy of Humanism. Topics covered include chemistry, biology, genetics, neuroscience, epistemology, the history of Western philosophy, cultural evolution, theory of cognition, ethics and much more. https://philosophyofhumanismcom.files.wordpress.com/2022/05/standards-for-behavioral-commitments-philosophy-of-humanism.pdf A brief outline: 1. “Section 1: Behavioral Functions and Scientific Models” Subsection i., Behavioral Functions, frames the intersection … Continue reading Free download of my book, Standards for Behavioral Commitments: Philosophy of Humanism →

Behavioral Functions

1.Mating and Birthing The function of mating and birthing is obviously reproduction, sustaining the existence of an organism’s species and passing along traits that made reproduction possible. It is easy to see the kind of advantage reproduction enables: a nonreplicating bacterium can be outnumbered one to a million in less than a day. The eukaryotic … Continue reading Behavioral Functions →

A Brief History of Quantification in Science

Etiologies of early humans were mythical, the world populated by spiritual entities, including humans who used spells, incantations, ritualized acts of all sorts to summon, supplicate and grapple with causality from out of mystical ideation and a mechanistic ignorance punctuated by technical insight into the solution of practical difficulties. A human being could adroitly design a hunting spear and at the … Continue reading A Brief History of Quantification in Science →

Genetics

a. The history of genetics At the end of the last ice age, roughly 10,000 B.C.E., humans began intensively cultivating plants into crops and domesticating animals. Agriculture and livestock breeding selected a modest set of desirable traits such as caloric content, palatability and medicinal value, while animal husbandry improved strength, stamina, appearance and behavioral profile … Continue reading Genetics →

Theory of Cognition

a. Psychology Understanding of cognition began with psychogenic theories derived from psychoanalysis — observation and study of mental associations made by patients during conversations with a psychological practitioner. It was found that maladaptive abnormalities in the psyche, what the medical field termed ‘neurosis’, could be linked to repression of thoughts and memories hidden under ordinary conditions, but … Continue reading Theory of Cognition →

First Person Experience: Universal Characteristics

1.Perception of Mechanism as the Basis for Knowledge of Physical Reality In the late 2000’s, mirror neurons were discovered, revolutionizing our theories of cognition. It was found that these cellular structures of the brain, present in numerous species and probably universal to the vertebrate phylum, grant organisms some direct perception of the thinking and emotion … Continue reading First Person Experience: Universal Characteristics →

The Basis of Reasoning Instincts in Causal Intuitions about the Physical World

Our reasoning emerged in response to interactions with nature during prehistory and so have ties with hunter-gatherer lifestyles that prevailed for hundreds of thousands and, taking into account probable similarities to hominins, millions of years. Our minds have of course transformed during that timespan in step with procession to large, complex societies and high technology, no doubt in some hardwired and nearly universal ways, but the environment’s … Continue reading The Basis of Reasoning Instincts in Causal Intuitions about the Physical World →

Fallible and Illusionary Reasoning Instincts

Though conceptualizing is of course integral to survival, some of our interpretive tendencies can lead us astray. Everyone knows something about sensory fallibilities, such as those of vision called ‘optical illusions’: our sight enhances the contrast of boundaries between light and dark, distorts lines and shapes depending on their surroundings, and awareness of depth can easily be fooled by the interplay of shadows. Just … Continue reading Fallible and Illusionary Reasoning Instincts →

Belief – A Constructive and Destructive Reasoning Instinct

Judging the import of environments is reasoning’s foremost concern, and this effort evinces constancies due to the rigidifying of cognitive approach despite transient and diversifying contexts of cultural development with their accumulating complexities. We desire progress, an improved future, and occasionally attain some of our enlightened ideals, but also demand continuities in our ways of life, thinking and modes of believing, stimulated by childhood conditioning, ingrained as dispositions, and assumed … Continue reading Belief – A Constructive and Destructive Reasoning Instinct →

The Role of Reasoning in Prejudice

In modern times, some consider prejudice irrational, a cognitive flaw that emerges from excessive emotion impinging upon reason, and though it is true that most experiencing has an emotional dimension, prejudice intersects with the very roots of thought. Three main factors constitute recalcitrance in reasoning: constraints of working memory, reliance on presumption, and social standards for perspective-taking. Human perception is a powerful apparatus, processing a … Continue reading The Role of Reasoning in Prejudice →