Sunday, December 5, 2010

Dr. Alexander and Richard Dawkins agree?

I share the enthusiasm others have shown for the presentation by Dr. Bruce Alexander that we were privileged enough to experience in class. In Dr. Alexander's lecture about Darwin and his connection with psychology he answered some major questions about human society through use of Darwin as well as enlightening us on the expansive nature of Darwin's overall works. Particularly interesting was the question Dr. Alexander posed about "what is morality?". Many may answer that religious teachings gave human society morality but Dr. Alexander takes the stance that morality is an evolved characteristic of both humans and animals having to live together and co-operate in groups. "Group Selection" is still a very controversial topic but I found a very interesting YouTube clip of one Mr. Richard Dawkins talking about his book "The Selfish Gene" in the 1980s. What Dawkins is explaining sounds eerily similar to that of Dr. Alexander. So might these two great minds possibly agree on something? Take a look:

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