jakelafort

The not random headline is a bit misleading.

kissing up against each other…says meself. This is what 12 hours of handicapping does to my brain.

i despise prolixity and redundancy..makes me a dunderhead

Simon says: Most of these things seem to be spectrums. People with BPD are sometimes comorbid with narcissism and/or antisocial personality disorder (exploits others materially). I knew someone with ASPD who has a marked lack of fear, like a psychopath.

Not sure when notion of spectrums arose but i suspect that is a better way to conceive any…[Read more]

Borderline personality disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD, and a host of psychology labels are in the simplest terms, most convenient definitions.

Unless and until neuroscience describes the biology of the aforementioned it is just educated guessing.

Digression landing on mental illness is a good place to defecate on religion.

Misnomer. If it aint physical it aint.

Dualism. Religion. Nonsense. Roughly 50 yrs since homosexuality was removed from DSM. That is dispositive of how advanced the profession was/is. Circa 1900 Shrinkology took a left at Albuquerque. Retardation of progress…[Read more]

Reg, that is racist!

An channeling dopey Ben Affleck although he was good in Good Will Hunting. How dya like dem apples?

I assume whether it is a relatively solitary mammal like an orang. or super social like a bonobo that the ethics of the individual and group evolved in such a way that survival chances of the species are enhanced. It is hard to see it any other way.

If that is a given why is the dynamic of our fellow mammals a paradigm for our own ethics.

From Simon: I’d say that evolution has already provided the ability, and we can fairly easily be socialised into and out of a compassionate mindset.

There is virtually zero doubt about socialized out of a compassionate mindset. No need to elaborate such an obvious point.

But there is front and center the issue whether we can be socialized i…[Read more]

I like that answer Davis but i wonder whether human nature isn’t as hard and fast as our cousins in nature. Would make sense intuitively that brain plasticity has survival value. As you point out (sounds of jared Diamond) agriculture created surplus that led to cruel systems. There is on an individual and group basis plenty of precedent for…[Read more]

Simon, isn’t your answer kind of a cop out?

Are the mammalian ethics of our closest relatives still at play? If not then Nazi Germany may or may not be explained by evolution. Or do you look at more distant relatives? Why are evolutionary ethics even relevant?

Germany did not become a state until 1871 if i recall and refuse to consult mr.…[Read more]