Presents the author’s view of the best current positions on certain core philosophical and psychological problems. These positions together suggest a skeptical or nihilist perspective modified by evolutionary psychology and contemporary philosophy that embraces our desire to live as best we can and the relative and psychological reality of values, free will and other phenomena while recognizing limitations on their foundations and our understanding. Readers may want to start with the first entry. - Marc Krellenstein (personal info here)
We choose to develop interests or acquire tastes but have less control over our personality or what is most important to us. Some changes may be forced on us, or become a part of us through daily routine. We can work towards personal and social transformation and deliberately build some changes in ourselves and others over time, to some extent.
Individual variability and external reinforcement play a significant role in what’s possible. Most people can learn to control urges for revenge. Some choose celibacy without apparent cost (how many?), while for many monogamy is difficult to sustain or not really embraced in the first place, or exists for a period of time in a state of tension. Pinker (1997) casts doubt on the 1960’s ambitions of free love and an egalitarian society, arguing persuasively for the widespread existence, likely evolutionary origins and great difficulty in overcoming sexual jealousy and competition. Modern day capitalism has lately run rampant over any alternative economic model in its appeal to a view of human nature based on universal and mostly unmodifiable self-interest and competition. But just how desirable (or undesirable) and unchangeable are which tendencies?