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They are anomalies. There are always outliers. And we really don't know what made them walk away, what kind of hurt? All studies of mental illness and...

A couple things come to mind. First, I am having trouble with this word "ought." That implies external judgement, and I am not sure where this comes f...

Evolution does not show, it produces. And what is good for the individual cannot be divorced from what is good for the species. We are a social animal...

Good question. But I think selfishness is another one of those traits that requires a party of two or more to be manifested. if you live your life wit...

Whether you care or not is irrelevant. The fact is that the process of evolution that occurred over those millions of years made us what we are today....

Very interesting observation. In the distant past, survival often depended on fearing "the other." But in a modern society, with all its diversity, th...

We need to take the long view of our evolution, going far back beyond civilization. I’m going to return to my earlier point that notions of “good’ and...

Much food for thought. The relationship between ethics and biology. From what you've said, I take it to mean that ethics is something bigger and beyon...

IMO, the highest level of being human is to be your most true, authentic self. This means getting the most in touch with your natural instincts, with ...

I lost my husband 3 years ago to MS. The last couple years of his life were very difficult. At one point, as he was having a lot of trouble making a t...

Hmmm ... that's not how I see it. For example, sometimes we have to accept things in our life that suck. Things we cannot change. For example, a cance...

Not always, as my example of getting hit by a bus illustrates. Or, suddenly getting diagnosed with cancer. Or, winning the lottery. Or, reading a good...

There is also the philosophical tradition that to reach the highest level of being human was to live a virtuous life.

I guess it depends on the person and i am only speaking from my own experience.

Making plans speaks to routine, and we do have routine, but routine may be interrupted.

We can plan, and make decisions, but we can't predict if a bus is going to hit us tomorrow.

You're probably right. But the question seems simple. "Should we do good?" Of course, we should do good. I always feel good when I do the right thing....

This question seems moot, since we do. We would have to totally reprogram human brains to get away from that. We would have to be a totally different ...

As mentioned, we operate on a system of rewards an punishments. It's not giving a reason for doing good.

This ignores human nature. It's akin to saying, "Do this because I said so." Humans operate on a system of rewards and punishments. If you do good, th...

I think you have mixed up your cause and effect. It's the other way around. The laws and principals that "regulate" nature gave rise to the diversity ...

My background in biology has me taking the side that says all is random. In nature, there is no such thing as a closed system. There are always random...

The Democrats try to get voters to vote in their own interests. They appeal to the voter's rationality (that's why they lost). The Republicans have to...

There are different way in which to answer this question. I'll go to the evolutionary answer. What is the evolutionary advantage of being good? Well, ...

We need to understand the difference between structure and function. The neurons are the structure. "Thought" - i.e. your mind - is the function. It's...

To me, this suggests the distinction between "true" and "false." That leads into a discussion of objective and subjective truth. I think the "real" in...

The answer so much depends on your understanding of what God "is." If your belief is that he is a supernatural being, then, no, evidence will not be a...