Penn et al. do not demonstrate Darwin made a mistake, because they largely ignore the semantics underlying the meanings of and An analysis based on the work of Mortimer Adler shows such terminology conflates at least three different meanings of only one of which challenges Darwin – and one which the authors almost certainly would reject.We must also admit that there is a much wider interval in mental power between one of the lowest fishes, as a lamprey or lancelet, and (...) one of the higher apes, than between an ape and man; yet this immense interval is filled with numberless gradations.;>. (shrink)
Heuristics provide insight into the inconsistencies that characterize thinking related to the use of nonhuman animals. We examine paradoxes in judgments and policy related to the treatment of animals in science from a moral intuition perspective. Sunstein's ideas are consistent with a model of animal-related ethical evaluation we developed twenty-five years ago and which appear readily formulated as moral heuristics.
The metaphor drug model of money slights the possibility that money may literally tap into and exploit brain systems underlying motivational systems, and it also ignores growing evidence on the common neural substrates of behavioral and “physiological” addictions. Additionally, many objects other than money can gain such drug-like properties. The treatment of play in the evolutionary explanation for the unique role of money in people ignores key conceptual and empirical issues. (Published Online April 5 2006).
If there is to be a natural theory of consciousness that would satisfy both philosophers and scientists, it must be based on naturalistic data and minimal clutter accumulated from semantic arguments. Carruthers offers a 'natural' theory of consciousness that is rather myopic. To explore the evolutionary basis of consciousness, a natural theory should include comparative psychological and neurological data that encompass nonlinguistic measures. Such an approach could provide a clearer picture of the adaptive function, mechanisms, and origins of consciousness.
