Document Type
Book
Abstract
Daniel S. Levine's Common Sense and Common Nonsense observes human decision making, ethics, and social organization as illuminated by the scientific disciplines of neural network theory, neuroscience, experimental psychology, and dynamical systems theory. It is a book whose aim is advocacy as well as research. Its goal is to use an understanding of our brains and minds to better operationalize Aldous Huxley's admonition to "try to be a little kinder." It wanders over examples from sociology, politics, economics, religion, literature, and many other fields but looks at all as examples of a few common themes. The "common nonsense" of the book's title refers to widespread popular beliefs that are harmful to human welfare and artificially limit human potential. The "common sense" refers to other popular beliefs that promote positive growth and are largely supported by the emerging results of psychology and neuroscience. A few of the book's major conclusions are listed below, first in the form of "bumper sticker statements" that appear in the preface, then in the form of longer "bullets" that appear in the first chapter.
Disciplines
Biological Psychology | Cognitive Psychology | Experimental Analysis of Behavior | Neurosciences | Psychology | Social Psychology | Theory and Philosophy
Publication Date
10-19-2018
Language
English
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License
Recommended Citation
Levine, Daniel S. (2018) "Common Sense and Common Nonsense: A Conversation about Mental Attitudes, Science, and Society." Mavs Open Press, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. http://hdl.handle.net/10106/27541
Included in
Biological Psychology Commons, Cognitive Psychology Commons, Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons, Neurosciences Commons, Social Psychology Commons, Theory and Philosophy Commons
Comments
Published by Mavs Open Press, UTA Libraries