Author Archives: David Hume

Social science & engineering

Posted on June 17, 2009 by David Hume

A recent Bloggingheads.tv featured two philosophers, and was titled “Explaining and Appraising Moral Intuition”. A considerable proportion of the discussion involved the utility of cognitive and evolutionary psychology in probing the reflexive roots of our moral intuitions, and how that … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, economics, philosophy, science, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Start at the same point, go in opposite directions

Posted on June 11, 2009 by David Hume

I really enjoyed this discussion between Cato’s Brink Lindsey and David Frum. It illustrates my point about the necessity of common referents to have fruitful discussions. Brink is a libertarian who has rejected fusionism and now wishes to co-opt a … Continue reading →

Posted in philosophy | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Religion, nationality & trust of the Other

Posted on June 11, 2009 by David Hume

At Gene Expression I have a post up where I explore the relationship between lack of trust of other religions and other nationalities across nations. As many might expect, the relationship was close. On the other hand, there was no … Continue reading →

Posted in data | 7 Comments

The politics of science

Posted on June 8, 2009 by David Hume

Bryan Caplan observes of Behaviorial Geneticists versus Policy Implications: In most disciplines, experts oversell their ability to give useful policy advice. In behavioral genetics, however, experts strangely undersell their ability to give useful policy advice…. …The upshot: Behavioral genetics makes … Continue reading →

Posted in science | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Conservatism as disposition; the politcs of disgust

Posted on June 7, 2009 by David Hume

There are a series of papers out right now which show the positive relationship between political conservatism and reflexive disgust responses. Instead of summarizing the research myself I will point you to Observations of a Nerd, who does a really … Continue reading →

Posted in science | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

Religion & abortion, the international trends

Posted on June 4, 2009 by David Hume

It is a well known fact that in the United States that opposition to abortion tends to be concentrated among the most religious segment of the population. It is also a fact that the more secular nations tend to be … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, politics | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Abortion & slavery: analogies and logic

Posted on June 2, 2009 by David Hume

Richard Spencer asks, Did George Tiller Deserve to Die?. While Megan McArdle has A Really Long Post About Abortion and Reasoning By Historical Analogy That is Going to Make Virtually All of My Readers Very Angry At Me. Though Spencer’s … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Tagged , | 8 Comments

We are all Leftists now?

Posted on May 29, 2009 by David Hume

So argues Kevin Gutzman in There is No Authentic American Right – and a Good Thing, Too. In What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 there is some coverage given to the attempt by some early Federalists to … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Gay marriage attitudes by political orientation

Posted on May 24, 2009 by David Hume

The Audacious Epigone points out that though attitudes toward gay marriage shifted a great deal over the past few years for liberals and moderates, not so much for conservatives. This makes sense. I’ve looked at attitudes toward homosexuals where liberals, … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Diverse radicals

Posted on May 23, 2009 by David Hume

In regards to Heather’s post below there are many complex issues here, and frankly I get tired of those who want to claim that religion or anti-religion have some necessary and exclusive association with any given movement, whether it has … Continue reading →

Posted in history, politics | Tagged , | 1 Comment