Philosophy Talk Podcast: “Altruism”

00:30 - There is a juxtaposition of a quote by Martin Luther King, Jr. and a quote by Ayn Rand. Which do you agree with more?

03:15 - What is the “Selfish Gene” hypothesis? How does it relate to the idea of biological altruism? What is the difference between biological altruism, psychological altruism, and morality?

7:15 – What is reciprocal altruism? Is this true altruism?

13:00 – How does altruism seem to run counter to Darwinian evolutionary theory?

-According to biological altruism, how might the old idiom “blood is thicker than water” be true?

14:30 – What is the difference between “is” and “ought”?

19:30 – According to Professor Schloss, how can ideas subvert our biological and genetic programming? How might this be related to the idea of us as ‘conceptual loops’?

29:00 – How might perception of group dynamics affect our understanding of altruism?

30:30 – What is a meme? How does it explain altruistic behavior away from our biological make-up?

33:15 – Professor Schloss says Selfish Gene Theory is “necessary but not sufficient to understand human behavior.” What does this distinction mean?

36:00 – A listener emails in and asks what seeing the human race as a whole has an effect on altruism. What evolutionary implication does this have for biological altruism?

40:00 – The host says ‘pure altruism’ is kind of like being a chump. What do you think he means by this? According to the professor, how is morality different from biological altruism?

42:00 - What does the ‘secret ring’ example have to do with reputation management?

45:00 – Schloss says, “Some ideas feel better to believe than others.” Does this make us merely stimulus loops?

49:30 – According to the interpretation of Adam Smith tie altruism to economics? Why does the speaker say “The Invisible Hand is sucker punching us. The Invisible Hand is smacking us around“?

Philosophy Talk Podcast: “Altruism”

00:30 - There is a juxtaposition of a quote by Martin Luther King, Jr. and a quote by Ayn Rand. Which do you agree with more?

03:15 - What is the “Selfish Gene” hypothesis? How does it relate to the idea of biological altruism? What is the difference between biological altruism, psychological altruism, and morality?

7:15 – What is reciprocal altruism? Is this true altruism?

13:00 – How does altruism seem to run counter to Darwinian evolutionary theory?

-According to biological altruism, how might the old idiom “blood is thicker than water” be true?

14:30 – What is the difference between “is” and “ought”?

19:30 – According to Professor Schloss, how can ideas subvert our biological and genetic programming? How might this be related to the idea of us as ‘conceptual loops’?

29:00 – How might perception of group dynamics affect our understanding of altruism?

30:30 – What is a meme? How does it explain altruistic behavior away from our biological make-up?

33:15 – Professor Schloss says Selfish Gene Theory is “necessary but not sufficient to understand human behavior.” What does this distinction mean?

36:00 – A listener emails in and asks what seeing the human race as a whole has an effect on altruism. What evolutionary implication does this have for biological altruism?

40:00 – The host says ‘pure altruism’ is kind of like being a chump. What do you think he means by this? According to the professor, how is morality different from biological altruism?

42:00 - What does the ‘secret ring’ example have to do with reputation management?

45:00 – Schloss says, “Some ideas feel better to believe than others.” Does this make us merely stimulus loops?

49:30 – According to the interpretation of Adam Smith tie altruism to economics? Why does the speaker say “The Invisible Hand is sucker punching us. The Invisible Hand is smacking us around“?