Evolutionary biologists have long been interested in war and aggression. It was something Darwin talked of in his Descent of Man – hardly a surprise since his mechanism of natural selection is fueled by a “struggle for existence” – and his followers and critics have struggled with the issue since. Some, the extreme “Social Darwinians,”…
I have only met Ken Miller, a professor of biology at Brown University, the once. This was when we together appeared on one of William Buckley’s Firing Line television debates, part of the side arguing for evolution against a group of critics, those whom I label the “New Creationists.” I should say that on those…
When Alfred Nobel instituted his prizes at the beginning of this century, he set up awards in physics and chemistry, medicine, and literature and peace. Since then, in his memory, economics has been added. There are some notable omissions. The story is that Nobel’s wife ran off with a mathematician, so that put paid to…
A one-volume history of Western civilization would surely have to have a chapter devoted to sex, marriage, and related activities and customs, and no less surely would make the claim that over this whole, most important aspect of human flourishing lies the clammy fog of the Christian religion. Although Judaism, from which Christianity came, has…
In the summer of 1850, the Englishman Alfred Tennyson galloped past the opposition and was appointed Poet Laureate. He was not an obvious choice, but his triumph was made nigh inevitable by the smashing success of his new poem: In Memoriam. Written as a tribute to a college friend, Arthur Hallam, who had died some…
I have just come back from a quick trip to the old German city of Jena, close to Weimar. By one of those unfortunate accidents of history, Jena found itself on the wrong side of the border through the Cold War, so having suffered through thirteen years of the Third Reich and four years of…
Stephen Jay Gould is justly honoured not only for his contributions to science but also for his sensitive and humane spirit, something which shines forth from his popular writings – especially his monthly column in Natural History. Nor should we forget his many activities on behalf of tolerance and understanding. Not the least is the…
Does God have a sense of humour? It is in fact an interesting theological point. We usually think that a person with a sense of humour is better than one without – indeed, to say of Jaques in As You Like that “he is pretty humourless” is to say that Jaques lacks something which makes…
I begin this review with two snapshot reactions. First, there was the review of Consilience in Science: this appeared early in 1998, and was written by a well-known philosopher of science who had himself written on some issues similar to those touched on by Wilson. To say that the review was negative would give negativity…