Paul Bloom
Paul Bloom
Paul Bloomis a Canadian American professor of psychology and cognitive science at Yale University. His research explores how children and adults understand the physical and social world, with special focus on language, morality, religion, fiction, and art...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionPsychologist
Date of Birth24 December 1963
CountryCanada
grasp intuitive quantum selection
The real problem with natural selection is that it makes no intuitive sense. It is like quantum physics; we may intellectually grasp it, but it will never feel right to us.
experience freshness inhabited looking might morality objects perhaps surprise
Perhaps looking out through big baby eyes - if we could - would not be as revelatory experience as many imagine. We might see a world inhabited by objects and people, a world infused with causation, agency, and morality - a world that would surprise us not by its freshness but by its familiarity.
attractive babies based face features geometry human judging legal might moral nature prefer relying
Relying on the face might be human nature - even babies prefer to look at attractive people. But, of course, judging someone based on the geometry of his features is, from a moral and legal standpoint, no better than judging him based on the color of his skin.
accept age behave expression honor individual versus york
Once we accept violence as an adaptation, it makes sense that its expression is calibrated to the environment. The same individual will behave differently if he comes of age in Detroit, Mich., versus Windsor, Ontario; in New York in the 1980s versus New York now; in a culture of honor versus a culture of dignity.
The genetic you and the neural you aren't alternatives to the conscious you. They are its foundations.
capacity evidence evil god great proof wondrous
If our wondrous kindness is evidence for God, is our capacity for great evil proof of the Devil?
arises conscious modern physical purely science self tells
Modern science tells us that the conscious self arises from a purely physical brain. We do not have immaterial souls.
appetite deterrence dreams movies needed peaceful punishment rein shows sports threat transform violence worst
Even in the most peaceful communities, an appetite for violence shows up in dreams, fantasies, sports, play, literature, movies and television. And, so long as we don't transform into angels, violence and the threat of violence - as in punishment and deterrence - is needed to rein in our worst instincts.
characters charles death dickens emotions fiction led people series similar sure wept wrote
The emotions triggered by fiction are very real. When Charles Dickens wrote about the death of Little Nell in the 1840s, people wept - and I'm sure that the death of characters in J.K. Rowling's 'Harry Potter' series led to similar tears.
attitudes change cultural drift either entirely feelings gut history human moral randomly result skirt stable systematic time
If our moral attitudes are entirely the result of nonrational factors, such as gut feelings and the absorption of cultural norms, they should either be stable or randomly drift over time, like skirt lengths or the widths of ties. They shouldn't show systematic change over human history. But they do.
adopting appetite drive outrage perspective pull victim
On many issues, empathy can pull us in the wrong direction. The outrage that comes from adopting the perspective of a victim can drive an appetite for retribution.
cooperation human parties periods taken
Periods of cooperation between political parties shouldn't be taken for granted; they are a stunning human achievement.
almost anymore believes both deny experience mad nobody seems
Almost nobody believes anymore that infants are insensate blobs. It seems both mad and evil to deny experience and feeling to a laughing, gurgling creature.
appreciation best distant empathize fact family future hope humanity lives love people value
Our best hope for the future is not to get people to think of all humanity as family - that's impossible. It lies, instead, in an appreciation of the fact that, even if we don't empathize with distant strangers, their lives have the same value as the lives of those we love.