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                                       Details for article 5 of 25 found articles
 
 
  Human tragedy and natural selection
 
 
Title: Human tragedy and natural selection
Author: Pascal, Louis
Appeared in: Inquiry
Paging: Volume 21 (1978) nr. 1-4 pages 443-460
Year: 1978
Contents: It is argued that too logical a mind is not favored by natural selection; rather, it is biologically useful to be able to rationalize away certain unpleasant aspects of reality. In most cases this irrationality has to do either with our reproductive ideas or with our ways of viewing the future. In both cases the implications with regard to our ability to solve the current population growth/resource shrinkage crisis are decidedly negative. Looked at from a slightly different perspective, this same phenomenon can be viewed as a selection among ideas and beliefs. Sometimes this selection is quite intense. Indeed, there are certain ideas which the human mind simply cannot logically deal with, since if they should be true, then it is obvious that evolution will direct all its resources toward producing minds which will believe them to be false. An example of such an idea is discussed.
Publisher: Routledge
Source file: Elektronische Wetenschappelijke Tijdschriften
 
 

                             Details for article 5 of 25 found articles
 
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