http://trbq.org/topics/stories/
check out especially the third podcast from E.O. Wilson -- whom you just read about in this Chpt.
Address a few questions, and respond to 1-2 of your classmates' posts.
- What can science tell us about human nature?
- What, if anything, can science tell us about values?
- What is "natural"? Why might we be interested in that question?
- What is "eugenics"? Why is it important to know something about the history and application of genetics and the heredity sciences? (see http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/ and more generally http://www.dnai.org/ )
- and here's a new article today 14 Oct 14 about a new exhibit on eugenics http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/10/14/science/haunted-files-the-eugenics-record-office-recreates-a-dark-time-in-a-laboratorys-past.html?referrer=
Science is based on facts and evidence, not values. Science does not tell us how we should live. Science just publishes fact, and it is the people who draw conclusions from these publishings that say how we should live and about values. An example of this is social Darwinism. Darwin published his finings on biological natural selection and people expanded on his theory and applied it in a social context. Social Darwinism is very value based saying that people who are weaker nd helpless should not be helped because Darwin's theory is all about survival of the fittest. However, Darwin's theory was strictly a biological one, and Darwin himself did not endorse social Darwinism. This example, I believe, just goes to show that it is people who make implications and draw conclusions from science that make it seem like science tells us about values, but science itself does not speak about values.
ReplyDeleteTonya, I agree with what you said about people trying to make it seem like science tells us about values, yet science is solely fact and is not based on beliefs.
DeleteEugenics is selectively breeding humans in order to produce a superior human being. This would include not allowing the weak or mentally retarded to reproduce so they could not pass on their "negative" traits. This was very prevalent in the early 1900s and people considered to have bad traits were forced to be made sterile in many countries. Unfortunately this desire for a "perfect" human also led to racism issues as well as the fact that it takes away a person's free will by making them become sterile, thus it is now very discouraged. It is important to know about genetics and heredity sciences because they shape our history in many ways, the Holocaust for example was an extreme form of eugenics that wanted to completely eradicate an ethnic group thought to be inferior. Additionally, genetics and heredity is what helps shape who we are as humans, so it is important to know what makes us the way we are biologically.
ReplyDeleteKristin, this definition and overview of Eugenics was so good, I feel like I answered the question I would just be copying you. I find it really interesting that you still hear people talking about how only smart people should be allowed to have kids and how this would save the world. It is crazy to think that they don't know that we actually tried this in the past and it failed miserably. I guess this holds true to the saying, "those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it." I agree with what you said about genetics and heredity as well. Go Biology!
DeleteSo, Eugenics is obviously wrong, because it is basically a forced selection rather than a natural selection. From a biological standpoint, isn't the whole idea of Eugenics pointless? I thought the biology perspective would say that the ultimate goal and motive behind humans actions is to pass on good genes. Well, naturally speaking and not trying to be mean, but most people who are mentally handicapped and most people who are seen by society as having less quality genetics wouldn't necessarily be able to reproduce as much as someone who is seen as having elite genetics, right? So naturally over time, bad genetics should die out... I don't know, maybe I'm way off on all of this haha
DeleteScience Tells us the physiological aspect of human nature. It answers very literally the "why" of what we do. There are literal chemical or electrical reactions which incite emotions and cause responses. This is where science stops. It cannot go into the psyche and answer questions about how that person handles the physiological response and what they do with the emotions that these bring about. This is the moral side of the person, requiring an opinionated answer about the moral and other emotional aspects of our nature. This is beyond the scope of science and not what it intends to answer. Thus, science answers the literal physical "why" not the emotional motivation.
ReplyDeleteThe same is true for our values. Science can literally tell us whether something has good or bad effects, but can never cross the line to determine for a person how their nature reacts to this and what action they take based on the scientific facts.
Finally, we are so interested in what is natural because we are always trying to make our lives simpler as they continually become more hectic. Thus, we desire to feel that our ways are supported by the natural order of things in the world. In other words, if what we do is natural, then it is probably morally good or right because it becomes something we ought to do to be in line with natural order.
Natural is the pattern of behavior that humans will follow without thinking. However, we don't know what is "natural" for sure. Our perceptions form what we believe to be "normal" behavior. We our interested because we are always seeking to understand ourselves. We also use what is "natural" as justification for our acts, whether they are good or bad. In history it has typically been our bad actions that need justification, and to say it is natural eases our conscious. Ideas like America's "Manifest Destiny" and Europe's "The White Man's Burden" used the idea that it is natural to colonize and oppress, or even kill, so called "primitive" people. To us what is "natural" is how humans behave based on our biology, and other factors. Science can provide proof about where we come from as humans. It can make predictions on how we will act in certain situations. However, it is not definitive, just like how the future is not set in stone, and there are outliers who behave differently.
ReplyDeleteRobbie, great point on how we want to do what is natural because we feel that we need justification. I had not even thought of that when I wrote my reply on here, but that makes so much sense. If something is "natural" then it makes sense to us that it would be "justified" whether it is good or not. I hear it all the time when someone is confronted with something they've done say "it's just my nature."
DeleteI have to agree with that we do not know what natural is because there are so many different interpretations. Also I agree with you when you said that it is not definitive and that the future does not usually come out how we want it to.
DeleteCody, I also hear that " its just my nature" all the time. I believe that people are predisposed to certain actions; however, using nature as an excuse is invalid. Nature is only part of the question and people must be responsible for their actions.
DeleteScience can tell us how things come to be and is based on facts and proving those facts. Human nature is why we do and act the way we do when certain situations come about. There are pieces of human beings that we question and wonder why and through human nature this is how we are all connected. Human beings are made to interact with others and if that is taken away then our who nature changes, and we experience this somewhat through death. I am not really positive that science can tell us anything about values, but it can tell us that certain ways we behave around others is an indicator of how we feel about them. This is a stretch, but through religion and others examples we gain our values.
ReplyDeleteScience tells us information from an empirical stand point. Science also tells us why things have happened and why things may happen. As much as I hate using science to explain human nature, it can. For example, studies have been done that register waves through different portions of the brain when a person is faced in different situations. This is a very scientific way to explain human nature. Human nature at the root is an explanation for how every human acts, and the motivation behind every single decision. I believe that science and philosophy and even theology have extremely similar views when it comes to human nature, but values is where there is a fork in the road. Philosophy and theology can keep going with the discussion of human nature and into fundamental human values where science can no longer hang in the discussion. Values are building blocks and corner stones to our lives. These values are things we choose to not stray away from and there is emotional bond we create with these values. In times of crisis we revert back to these, and I don't believe Science would have any weight in a fight if it came to discussion, because it doesn't make any sense for there to be a scientific reasoning behind how people create values. One might be able to create scientific reasoning out of the argument that values are created responsively to their situation growing up, but there's so much more emotion, thought, and heart that goes into developing these values.
ReplyDelete