Existentialism as Biology

doi:10.1177/1754073909345545

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Existentialism as Biology

Journal Article•DOI•

Existentialism as Biology

Ronald de Sousa¹•Institutions (1)

University of Toronto¹

01 Jan 2010-Emotion Review (SAGE Publications)-Vol. 2, Iss: 1, pp 76-83

TL;DR: Existentialism is compatible with a broadly biological vision of who we are as discussed by the authors, which is grounded in an analysis of concrete or individual possibility, which differs from standard conception.

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Abstract: Existentialism is compatible with a broadly biological vision of who we are. This thesis is grounded in an analysis of “concrete” or “individual” possibility, which differs from standard conception...

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Journal Article•DOI•

Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories

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Robert Kirk

01 Jul 1985-Philosophical Books

1,607 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

The explanation of behaviour

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Jeremy Walker

01 Jan 1965-Philosophical Books

105 citations

Lack of Character. Personality and moral behavior

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Tim Smits

01 Jan 2002

82 citations

Book•

Cultural-Existential Psychology: The Role of Culture in Suffering and Threat

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Daniel Sullivan¹•Institutions (1)

University of Arizona¹

07 Apr 2016

TL;DR: In this article, a case study of a traditionalist group of Mennonites in the midwestern United States was used to examine the relationship between religion, community, guilt, anxiety, and the experience of natural disaster.

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Abstract: Cultural psychology and experimental existential psychology are two of the fastest-growing movements in social psychology. In this book, Daniel Sullivan combines both perspectives to present a groundbreaking analysis of culture's role in shaping the psychology of threat experience. The first part of the book presents a new theoretical framework guided by three central principles: that humans are in a unique existential situation because we possess symbolic consciousness and culture; that culture provides psychological protection against threatening experiences, but also helps to create them; and that interdisciplinary methods are vital to understanding the link between culture and threat. In the second part of the book, Sullivan presents a novel program of research guided by these principles. Focusing on a case study of a traditionalist group of Mennonites in the midwestern United States, Sullivan examines the relationship between religion, community, guilt, anxiety, and the experience of natural disaster.

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37 citations

Journal Article•

Causal democracy and causal contributions in Developmental Systems Theory : Philosophy and Biology, Psychology, and Neuroscience

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Susan Oyama

01 Jan 2000-Philosophy of Science

TL;DR: The authors showed that causal symmetry is neither a platitude about multiple influences nor a denial of useful distinctions, but a powerful way of exposing hidden assumptions and opening up traditional formulations to fruitful change.

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Abstract: In reworking a variety of biological concepts, Developmental Systems Theory (DST) has made frequent use of parity of reasoning. We have done this to show, for instance, that factors that have similar sorts of impact on a developing organism tend nevertheless to be invested with quite different causal importance. We have made similar arguments about evolutionary processes. Together, these analyses have allowed DST not only to cut through some age-old muddles about the nature of development, but also to effect a long-delayed reintegration of development into evolutionary theory. Our penchant for causal symmetry, however (or 'causal democracy', as it has recently been termed), has sometimes been misunderstood. This paper shows that causal symmetry is neither a platitude about multiple influences nor a denial of useful distinctions, but a powerful way of exposing hidden assumptions and opening up traditional formulations to fruitful change.

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8 citations

References

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Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories

[...]

Ruth Garrett Millikan

01 Jan 1984

1,519 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

"From Jerusalem to Jericho": A study of situational and dispositional variables in helping behavior.

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John M. Darley¹, C. Daniel Batson•Institutions (1)

Princeton University¹

01 Jan 1973-Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

TL;DR: The authors examined the influence of several situational and personality variables on helping behavior in an emergency situation suggested by the parable of the Good Samaritan and found that if a subject did stop to offer help, the character of the helping response was related to his type of religiosity.

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Abstract: The influence of several situational and personality variables on helping behavior was examined in an emergency situation suggested by the parable of the Good Samaritan. People going between two buildings encountered a shabbily dressed person slumped by the side of the road. Subjects in a hurry to reach their destination were more likely to pass by without stopping. Some subjects were going to give a short talk on the parable of the Good Samaritan, others on a nonhelping relevant topic; this made no significant difference in the likelihood of their giving the victim help. Religious personality variables did not predict whether an individual would help the victim or not. However, if a subject did stop to offer help, the character of the helping response was related to his type of religiosity.

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1,203 citations

"Existentialism as Biology" refers background in this paper

...Consider the provocative claims made by Doris (2002) on the basis of such evidence as Milgram’s obedience experiments or the “good Samaritan” experiment of Darley and Batson (1973)....
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...Consider the provocative claims made by Doris (2002) on the basis of such evidence as Milgram’s obedience experiments or the “good Samaritan” experiment of Darley and Batson (1973). These are adduced as evidence for the claim that circumstances, not character, determine responses....
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Journal Article•DOI•

The illusion of conscious will

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Peter Carruthers¹•Institutions (1)

University of Maryland, College Park¹

28 Jul 2007-Synthese

TL;DR: It is argued that there is no such thing as conscious willing: conscious will is, indeed, an illusion, and can be filled by a plausible a priori claim about the causal role of anything deserving to be called ‘a will.’

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Abstract: Wegner (Wegner, D. (2002). The illusion of conscious will. MIT Press) argues that conscious will is an illusion, citing a wide range of empirical evidence. I shall begin by surveying some of his arguments. Many are unsuccessful. But one—an argument from the ubiquity of self-interpretation—is more promising. Yet is suffers from an obvious lacuna, offered by so-called ‘dual process’ theories of reasoning and decision making (Evans, J., & Over, D. (1996). Rationality and reasoning. Psychology Press; Stanovich, K. (1999). Who is rational? Studies of individual differences in reasoning. Lawrence Erlbaum; Frankish, K. (2004). Mind and supermind. Cambridge University Press). I shall argue that this lacuna can be filled by a plausible a priori claim about the causal role of anything deserving to be called ‘a will.’ The result is that there is no such thing as conscious willing: conscious will is, indeed, an illusion.

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1,032 citations

"Existentialism as Biology" refers background in this paper

...…Libet showed that the onset of motor activity involved in a simple action precedes the moment of conscious “decision” (Libet, Wright, Feinstein, & Pearl, 1979); and Daniel Wegner (2002) demonstrated that the feeling of agency can be disconnected from the fact of the agent’s causal influence....
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...All of these inventions depend on a very general and, as Daniel Gilbert (2006) has argued, uniquely human capacity brought into being by language, namely the ability to imagine the future....
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...One such is a prominent intellectual journalist, Leon Wieseltier, who reviewed Daniel Dennett’s Breaking the Spell (2006) in the New York Times Book Review....
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...Benjamin Libet showed that the onset of motor activity involved in a simple action precedes the moment of conscious “decision” (Libet, Wright, Feinstein, & Pearl, 1979); and Daniel Wegner (2002) demonstrated that the feeling of agency can be disconnected from the fact of the agent’s causal influence....
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Book•

Stumbling on Happiness

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Daniel T. Gilbert¹•Institutions (1)

Harvard University¹

01 Jan 2006

TL;DR: Gilbert as mentioned in this paper describes how the human brain imagines its future and how well (or badly) it predicts what it will enjoy, revealing some of the amazing secrets of human motivation.

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Abstract: In this fascinating and often hilarious work - winner of the Royal Society of Science Prize 2007 - pre-eminent psychologist Daniel Gilbert shows how - and why - the majority of us have no idea how to make ourselves happy. We all want to be happy, but do we know how? When it comes to improving tomorrow at the expense of today, we're terrible at predicting how to please our future selves. In 'Stumbling on Happiness' Professor Daniel Gilbert combines psychology, neuroscience, economics and philosophy with irrepressible wit to describe how the human brain imagines its future - and how well (or badly) it predicts what it will enjoy. Revealing some of the amazing secrets of human motivation, he also answers thought-provoking questions - why do dining companions order different meals instead of getting what they want? Why are shoppers happier when they can't get refunds? And why are couples less satisfied after having children while insisting that their kids are a source of joy?

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985 citations

"Existentialism as Biology" refers background in this paper

...All of these inventions depend on a very general and, as Daniel Gilbert (2006) has argued, uniquely human capacity brought into being by language, namely the ability to imagine the future....
[...]
...One such is a prominent intellectual journalist, Leon Wieseltier, who reviewed Daniel Dennett’s Breaking the Spell (2006) in the New York Times Book Review....
[...]
...Benjamin Libet showed that the onset of motor activity involved in a simple action precedes the moment of conscious “decision” (Libet, Wright, Feinstein, & Pearl, 1979); and Daniel Wegner (2002) demonstrated that the feeling of agency can be disconnected from the fact of the agent’s causal influence....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

Long story short: the serotonin transporter in emotion regulation and social cognition.

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Turhan Canli¹, Klaus-Peter Lesch²•Institutions (2)

Stony Brook University¹, University of Würzburg²

01 Sep 2007-Nature Neuroscience

TL;DR: In this paper, the role of life stress experience in modifying 5-HTT function in the brain was discussed and integration of these findings suggests that the impact of the 5HTT gene on behavior is much broader than is commonly appreciated and may have a role in social cognition.

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Abstract: The gene encoding the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) contains a regulatory variation that has been associated with anxiety-related traits and susceptibility for depression. Here we highlight recent discoveries related to allelic variation of 5-HTT function with respect to emotion regulation and social behavior, drawing from an interdisciplinary perspective of behavioral genetics and cognitive neuroscience. Following a reductionistic path that leads from gene-behavior association studies to neuroimaging and epigenetic studies, we compare two models of 5-HTT-dependent modulation of brain activity and discuss the role of life stress experience in modifying 5-HTT function in the brain. Integration of these findings suggests that the impact of the 5-HTT gene on behavior is much broader than is commonly appreciated and may have a role in social cognition.

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929 citations