Human Nature

Berlinski in his latest book, using real data and observations, eviscerates a number of common myths such as humanity is becoming more peaceful and enlightened as time rolls on. I always check at documentation when reading a book, and it is in this book in abundance! From page 298 to page 320. The author includes a number of interviews originally published elsewhere, including one on Phillip Johnson, who died on November 2 1019 at age 79. Berlinski has the ability to help readers see the foolishness of many popular ideas. In his usual incisive wit, Berlinski covered the Blind Watchmaker, i. e. evolution, which is not only blind, but also deaf and dumb as well, yet made the universe and all life in it. One supporter of the blind watchmaker was Motoo Kimura who introduced his neutral theory which, on the molecular level, was entirely stochastic, meaning molecular (actually genetic) drift produces genetic changes, and those that happened to be helpful were preserved, if not, they were destroyed. He called his theory of evolution The Neutral Theory. Johnson called it self-serving gibberish, and Berlinski called it the enigma. (p. 124). Berlinski writes he “has never supported the theory of intelligent design” but some events may cause him to change his mind. One, he noted, was “nothing so commends the theory to my attention as efforts by the scientific establishment to suppress it.” (p. 119). He then gives an egregious example. Clearly, bias was the reason for the troubles of those who reject the idea that a blind and deaf and dumb watchmaker made the world and all life in it. Or that random errors made the world and all life in it. Excellent book showing the foolishness to those who accept such ideas.

The author has things to say but unfortunately his self indulgent way of presenting his ideas makes this book a tough slog that few readers will see to conclusion. For whatever reason he uses mathematical and symbolic notation to present many of his ideas and writes English in the most opaque way possible -- so if you did not give up on the mathematical notation, you will most certainly give up on his obscure allusions and penchant for putting things in foreign languages. It is peculiar why someone would chose to write this way, to show how clever he is rather than to communicate ideas.

David Berlinski is, as they say, incapable of writing a dull book and HUMAN NATURE is no exception, but it is a bit of a pastiche in that it consists of formal essays, book reviews, interviews (one with Le Figaro in French), tales and reveries. Part of DB's writing (in David Klinghoffer's words—p. 286) "bears directly on whether religion has been intellectually defeated by secular, science-flavored ideologies." A scientist himself, DB is skeptical of science's hegemony and is always in search of examples that reassure us that life, the human brain, etc. are always much more complex than current scientific ideologies suggest. He is merciless, e.g., with regard to Darwin, particularly in light of Darwin's recent re-ascendance.Here he is dealing with the question of human nature. The postmodern claims with regard to its non-existence are easily dealt with and he spends much of his time countering Steven Pinker's claim that things are getting better, nicer, kinder and gentler. DB offers an avalanche of examples from 20thc history to suggest that man's thirst for other men's blood is alive and well. In some ways the debate comes down to the question of whether or not man is ineluctably fallen (though incremental progress away from barbarity may sometimes be achieved) or basically good and capable of being perfected via social engineering. This is the great conservative/liberal question and the principal question of 'human nature'—the question of whether it is relatively fixed or endlessly malleable (and, hence, non-existent).This is the general issue confronted by the book, though the argument is neither linear nor always clear. There are some key points of access to the issue. One is the human penchant for war. Another is the existence of human commonalities—in questions of biology, e.g. and, notably, in the manner in which humans acquire and utilize language.The problem (actually the triumph) is that DB approaches these issues using what for many will be very recondite materials for argument—higher mathematics, modal logic and Chomsky-level linguistics. This is problematic for me because I am simply unequipped to judge the success of these arguments because the materials are beyond my ken. This, I humbly believe, will be the case for many readers. This casts us in the role of seeing DB as our intellectual bodyguard, prepared to do battle on our behalf in not just a worthy cause but one of the most important causes of all. Unfortunately, we can only point to him and say, "Hear him," without being able to reconstitute his arguments in detail.Bottom line: a book that is somewhat disjointed but never dull; a book bright with intellectual flashes and (always with DB) a considerable amount of humor. When he leaves his usual territory and offers, e.g., a set of reflections on 1981 Vienna or 1998 Prague, the writing is very special indeed. Add 'creative nonfiction' to his list of accomplishments.

“Men go to war when they think that they can get away with murder.”The above sentence concludes the essay, The Cause of War, in David Berlinski’s new book, Human Nature. The statement, while unoriginal, surely implies a dark aspect of our nature. Unfortunately, such clear exposition is not evident in the remaining essays, portraits and interviews.Some of the book’s pieces are interesting, and some less so; in fact, chosen subjects are often bizarre, including one wholly in French. In any case, what is their connection to the large subject of human nature?As always, Berlinski writes extremely well, though sometimes eccentrically, with a mysterious sentence here and there. He can be very funny, too, when discussing a serious matter—or any matter. I laughed out loud more than once while reading.The notes section is a treat because of the elaborations therein.No matter my complaints, I look forward to Berlinski’s next book.

David Berlinski describes himself as a ‘counterpuncher’. His book on Human Nature certainly packs a punch. He delves into a number of scenes, from the First World War to life in Paris and some other colourful vistas. All throughout, he re-introduces us to the idea of ‘Essentialism’, that Human Nature exists and is not something infinitely malleable. That it consists of some properties that are necessary. It contrasts with ‘Existentialism’, which has become the fashion of the late twentieth century. In effect, he questions the doctrine that ‘Existence precedes essence’ on which existentialism is founded.Berlinski likes to provoke rather than to preach. He prefers to question the nature of reality, rather than espouse his own ideology. Nevertheless, his profound, often irreverent, often funny and intelligent take, is a call to arms for anyone who dares to think for themselves. He is a sceptic of Darwinism, yet he is also sceptical of ‘Intelligent Design’.He clearly disagrees with Steven Pinker on the subject of violence. Pinker, in ‘Enlightenment Now’, is at pains to promote his belief that violence in the twentieth century was not as bad as we might think, referring to homicide rates as evidence. Berlinski, an eminent mathematician, takes this apart, showing how ridiculous and frivolous Pinker’s assertions are. That violence is an essential part of human nature and that violence cannot be wished or washed away. Wishful thinking will not eliminate violence.Be prepared for a roller-coaster journey should you read this book. It does not produce a theory of human nature. Rather, it reminds us of some vital aspects that have all been ‘relativised’ away by modern ideas coming out of post-modernism. Rather than being left with yet another dogma, Berlinski provokes us to reconsider how we view Human Nature…if we believe such a thing exists at all!

Five stars for erudition,literary style and because the author's opinions more or less coincide with mine. However, if you don't happen to have degrees in philosophy and maths,lay in a decent stock of headache tablets before even opening to page one. One appalling statistic to emerge from these pages is that an estimated 250 million people died in the twentieth century, through the attempted imposition of hard-left ideology.We (rightly) hear plenty about Nazi atrocities from the BBC and similar,so how about a little compassionate attention for these forgotten victims.

Certain people are so much smarter than ordinary people that their ruminations about toilet paper would be more interesting and insightful than what most publicly-acclaimed thinkers write about. Berlinski is a case in point: he is at the very summit of what mankind can attain by way of lucid thinking, clear writing, and a withering wit. His paragraphs sometimes end with the simple question: "Are they?". Is Darwin really as proven as his followers believe? Was Christopher Hitchens really as clever as he thought he was? Is Yuval Noah Harari onto something important or is he oversold piffle? You can well imagine Berlinski's answers. The book is a collection of essays.and sometimes a little story. They are all of very high quality, though not every one of them is easily understood. He is like a bracing plunge into a cool swimming pool for your over-heated mind. One of the few authors I read whom I could cheerfully invite to dinner and to whom I would listen spellbound

The shameless manner in which intellectual charlatans blazenly and desperately infuse evolutionary science with teleology and purpose is profoundly laughable and the good author is adept at parading the intellectual naked emperor past our eyes. But what is lacking in most corners, but not all... thankfully... is the answer. And the answer has already arrived. And where from? From who else but the father of western logic and science.... Aristotle... and the monk scholars who largely built the framework for modern science itself; Thomas Aquinas et al.And the key to unlocking this kaleidescope of evocative changes....? An understanding of exactly what this thing called "change" actually is; the actualization of a potential, matter taking on a new form.... our very word information .. in-form-ation"... derives from the monk scholars who have long since unlocked the intellectual puzzle first breached by Aristotle and which underlies whatever sanity remains in the west as it ebbs out of existence.Aristotle's fourfold schema of what change is.... the four types of causes... is the key .. frankly.. to sanity itself. Material cause, efficient cause, formal cause and final cause.... the end or purpose of things is the magic formula that the good author seeks; the answer which avoids the problems of the common American Intelligent Design approach so heavily weighted by inductive argument.Rather does the approach of Aristotle and the great Aquinas rely upon the very intellectual foundation of just exactly what is the nature of change. What is it to be finite; to be contingent, to be created and to disappear. WHAT is CAUSING all of this ultimately?The answer , foundational to the western intellectual tradition since Plato and Socrates is what caused the world's most famous intellectual atheist.. Anthony Flew... to suddenly see reality .. the true structure of existence in its transcendent intelligibility and to abandon the futile pretension of atheism. Aristotle showed that for things that come into being... note carefully.. to avoid the sloppy error of even Bertrand Russell and others who should have at least read the literature... they speak of contingent being.. things that come into existence.. finite things.. not Absolute and transcendent BEING itself .. that things that come into being and are finite and in causal relationship with other contingent things, it is impossible . .. as philosophers like Ed Feser abundantly demonstrate.. that any contingent reality right here and now .. have a cause that only consists of such finite and contingent types of being. Underlying ALL.. there MUST be a cause.. famously described by Aristotle as the "Unmoved Mover"... that which causes change without itself.... Himself... as we can show.. without itself changing. The Ground who IS BEING, who IS TRUTH etc.As Dr Feser shows in presenting the classical metaphysical foundations of the west.. the ones we all use every day.. our "common sense".. The existence of the transcendent ground of all being and change is indeed the same cause which Aquinas shows dovetails with the God of western monotheism... Aristotle's unmoved mover. And what is it that moves other things without itself moving? Love does this.We are moved by what we love. In human life love is conscious and we know that the will seeks the good, the desirable.. the lovable. The beautiful cheer leaders at the bus stop cause all the guy heads on the bus to turn in their direction.. by love.. The rabbit is literally moved to the lettuce .. by love. Rabbits love lettuce. Flowers are moved by their being to seek the sun and even subatomic particles move naturally to ends and final causes they know not.Here .. in the father of western science and in the monk scholars who literally built the first universities and modern science.. we find the answer sought by the good author, the final cause, the unmoved mover that finally moved Anthony Flew and which provides the philosophical foundation for the life we all experience as good, intelligible and meaningful. And its SOLID. Check out Thomistic philosophers like Prof ED Feser of Pasadena College and find the long lost path literally , back to sanity. The clear path past nominalism and empiricism, idealism and the train wreck of incoherence that is postmodernism. We owe it at least to the kids of the world to take a plausible step towards sanity and the philosophical understanding that at the ground of evolution, of all being itself, exists necessarily a non contingent and infinite kind of being the existence of Whom.. can be demonstrated by reason and reliably understood. It is time that the deepest lights of western metaphysical foundations re-emerge to shed essential light (existence and essence are also Aristotelian and Thomistic terms) for the living mind. Give Ed Feser a shot. His book.. https://www.amazon.com/Last-Superstition-Refutation-New-Atheism/dp/1587314525 cuts a swath through the naive materialism and its incoherent premises while his online videos deal with the proofs of the existence of God, drawing on the genius of the founders of western civilization and of the idea that we have "rights" and other such innovations open to demonstration.

Drips with pretension and superciliousness.There are Many untranslated passages in foreign languages. I guess this offers the impression of erudition. He writes of a Rabbi named Zogt Gornisht because the Rabbi doesn’t speak. The name is Yiddish for ‘Says Nothing’. This is not erudition. It is silly nonsense.He includes math equations for the Poisson distribution. There is little in the way of explanation. This portion of the book is basically indecipherable for almost all readers. Indeed even mathematicians can see that there is not much value in what he is trying to get across. Just a poseur, he is.Another chapter discusses post modern philosopher Stanley Fish. Many post-modern philosophers (Derrida, etc) are accused of writing deliberate nonsense. This chapter in the book offers evidence for this claim.Just not an enjoyable read.I think Berlinski is writing just for the cash. (He has a good reputation and actually is interesting in speech and debates.6