Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id VAA08244 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 1 Jun 2000 21:21:23 +0100 Message-ID: <39367EF7.14FFA620@mediaone.net> Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 16:19:19 +0100 From: Chuck <cpalson@mediaone.net> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 [en] (WinNT; I) X-Accept-Language: en To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Primate Rights References: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745892@inchna.stir.ac.uk> <00060120491300.00947@faichney> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Before trying to reinvent the wheel on this one, why not read what other people
have said on the subject -- like L. Cosmides, J. Tooby, & JH Barkow, T.
Christopher, I. Subbiah, and S. Pinker. It really saves times to read other
people on a subject first. Why it can even save time.
Robin Faichney wrote:
> On Thu, 01 Jun 2000, Vincent Campbell wrote:
> >Thanks for the response. I know the veggie comment was a bit obvious, but
> >it just brought back fond memories of winding someone up and putting them
> >off their pool game.
> >
> >I'm still not sure of the utility to the individual of thinking that
> >nature's beautiful, or other species are nice (especially tigers- although I
> >do think tigers are magnificent animals, and I don't want to see them become
> >extinct, but I don't want to be eaten by one either).
>
> OK, I didn't really explain that. Perhaps because I'm not *very* clear
> about it myself! The example I gave, where mature, stable ecosystems are
> seen as beautiful, I think simply reflects the fact (if it is one) that
> mature, stable ecosystems are better places to be than immature, unstable
> ones. Imagine having been forced out of your previous habitat -- by
> whatever -- and after a difficult trek with your extended family through
> barren hills, coming down into a lushly wooded, uninhabited valley. Or,
> alternatively, into one that just 2 or 3 years ago suffered from the
> eruption of a nearby volcano, where nothing grows but weedy grasses and
> low scrub.
>
> >I mean we understand now what the importance of biodiversity is, but could
> >natural selection have produced it as a normative rule for a conscious
> >animal, or rather how did it develop?
>
> I doubt very much whether biodiversity would have any place in biophilia. I
> helped organise a study, once, where people were asked what words came to
> mind in response to "biodiversity", and the general failure to understand
> the concept was very, very high. Incidentally, that's just about the only
> memetics-related research I've ever been involved in. (I class my own
> interests as philosophical, or meta-memetic.)
>
> Though I used these words myself, I think maybe "love of nature" is a
> misleading way to conceptualise biophilia, because to be adaptive, it has
> to result in a tropism away from some aspects of nature, as well as
> towards others. I'd guess the modern appreciation of "the wilderness
> experience" and bleak, dangerous landscapes -- which I share, especially
> the Scottish mountains in winter -- has to be something other than basic
> biophilia, though it may be a perversion of it.
>
> Now I'm thinking about it again for the first time in years, I'm finding
> this quite fascinating! Time for a little web searching, I think...
>
> --
> Robin Faichney
>
> ===============================================================
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This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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