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Richard Dawkins

Heteronym said:
Paul Bloom argues in Descarte's Baby that children are in fact biologically prone to believe in God.
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This sounds quite similar to Pascal Boyer's analysis in Religion Explained. Rational reasoning is not a skill that comes naturally, rather it is something that needs to be learnt. By contrast religious modes of thinking arise quite naturally as a sort of parasitic by-product of the cognitive systems in a normal healthy brain, especially if it is immersed in an environment where such thinking is prevalent.
The brain evolved on the plains of Africa where the tasks required of it were quite different to those demanded now. When we live our modern lives, it involves co-opting cognitive modules for jobs that they were not originally designed for. That we do it so well is a testament to the power of the brain, but the ways in which we fall down on the job (eg: optical illusions) yield important clues to how the mind works.
(See also: Steven Pinker: How The Mind Works)
 
Funny you should mention Pinker: Paul Bloom quotes quite a lot from him. In fact many of his arguments are taken from How The Mind Works, which is better than Descarte's Baby in how it develops the theme of Man's brain limits.
 
Pinker and Boyer are pretty much singing from the same song sheet too, insofar as the subject matters overlap. If you enjoyed Pinker, try reading Judith Rich Harris: The Nurture Assumption. It also gets a glowing reference from Pinker. They all seem to be Psychologists with their feet grounded firmly in rational science rather than Freudian mumbo jumbo. (That said, Boyer is an anthropologist, but you'll see what I mean if you read him.)
I'm trying to get hold of The Blank Slate, but it's out on loan at the moment.
 
I appreciate that recommendation.

The Blank Slate is my favourite Pinker book, although it's less of a science book and more of a defense of a particular theory. It's especially valuable for the history of how the Blank Slate theory came to be, why it's so morally offensive to some and why people are so reticent to reject it.

And of course it has Pinker's wonderful brand of humor.
 
Heteronym said:
...why it's so morally offensive to some and why people are so reticent to reject it.
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Which brings us back to the 'whats bad is false' arguments that I mentioned earlier!
Have you read Bad Thoughts by Jamie Whyte? It's an analysis by a Cambridge philosopher of the irrational arguments that people use to debate. Very good, and very funny. (I see some American spelling in your messages, so you might be interested to know that it was published in the States under the title Crimes Against Logic. A much better title I think, Bad Thoughts sounds more like psychobabble!)
 
I've checked Crimes Against Logic; from the reviews it seems interesting. You say you've read nearly all Dawkins' books. I've only read The Blind Watchmaker, and although highly informative I found it somewhat dull too. What would recommend by him for a second try?
 
Heteronym said:
What would recommend by him for a second try?
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I really enjoyed Blind Watchmaker, it was my first Dawkins, and first on evolution. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who is looking for an introduction to evolutionary biology.

Selfish Gene is a good follow up to BW, though perhaps not if you found it a bit dry. It's evolution as influenced by Game Theory, if you want to know why tit for tat is evolutionarily adaptive and not just childish behaviour picked up in the playground, read it. (Prisoner's Dilemma by William Poundstone is a good intro to Game Theory.)

A Devil's Chaplain is not at all dry. It's not about evolution per se, although it contains a little. Rather, it is a compilation of Dawkins' essays from a variety of publications. It a mixture of all sorts, from an essay on jury trial, to a eulogy to Douglas Adams. Particularly touching is an open letter to his then 10 year old daughter, originally written for How Things Are by John Brockman and Katinka Matson.

Unweaving the Rainbow is his first book with his Simonyi hat on. As Professor for the Understanding of Science, he's trying to sell the wonders of science to a public, who in Britain at least, view boredom with science as being highly fashionable. I think he's done a good job, but then he's preaching to the converted here.

River out of Eden is a much simplified version of evolution for anyone who can't understand his other works. If you've read BW, there's not much to be gained here.

Climbing Mount Improbable is another tome on evolution, but with a much more 'David Attenborough' natural history style to it. Very good, and less dry than BW, but it seemed to be off at a tangent to evolution a bit too much for my taste.

The God Delusion is excellent, but I see there's a thread on that already.

Ancestor's Tale and Extended Phenotype I haven't read yet.
 
HI

the word meme (the behavioral equivalent of a gene) to describe how Darwinian principles might be extended to explain the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena
 
beer good said:
"Science has hijacked the words quantum physics for their own use."

O... kay.
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"This just in.....a group of scientist-terrorists have hijacked "quantum physics, aged 104. The group is in intense negotiators with government SWAT teams. At the moment, discussion is under way for a swapping of beakers and microscope lenses to the government, in exchange for pocket protectors, protractors, and vintage Billy Nye the science guy DVDs. More at 10 following Skip with the weather report............."
 
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