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18th Annual SHANTI (Peace) LECTURE

• Dr. Mark Lupisella

Dedicated to

Clarice Blake Douoguih

Co-Founder of The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Sterling, Virginia 1943 - 2017 And the victims of the Las Vegas shooting, October 1, 2017

KNOWLEDGE

PEACE

Inner Peace Social Peace Global Peace Cosmic Peace? What Kind of Peace?

SCIENCE ETHICS WISDOM

How?

Good News: Peace is arguably growing over the long-term… ?

Ethics Peace Topics Themes Evolutionary Psychology Going Cosmic

Philosophy Pragmatics Philosophy Pragmatics

A Moral Un Universe? e?

“Look at the facts of the world. You see a continual and progressive triumph of the right. I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience

• f sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it

bends towards justice.” “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

Theodore Parker, Of Justice and The Conscience, 1852, Unitarian Minister Martin Luther King Jr.

KNOWLEDGE, WISDOM? Caring Capacity Connection-Action Principle Cosmocultural Evolution Cosmological Reverence I M P L E M E N T A T I O N Philosophy Metaphysics? Ethics Worldviews Value Theory Science Biology Cosmology? Psychology Sociology

Inner Peace Social Peace Global Peace Cosmic Peace?

PEACE

Broad Reciprocal Respect Advanced Altruism Law Social Stability Personal Security

Sc Science…

• Evolutionary Psychology
• “Traditional” psychological research reveals a lot… but maybe not enough?
• “Primal Fairness & Sweets”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meiU6TxysCg
• Other Primal Ways…

Reconciliation…

Hugs…

Se Sex x …

Love ve… ? … ?

More E e Evol

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tion

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Psychology…

• Kin Selection / Inclusive Fitness
• Reciprocal Altruism
• Group Selection – “Binds and Blinds”
• In-Group Altruism AND Out-Group Hostility
• Practical Realism vs. Factual Realism
• “Mis-Matched Mind”

More “ e “Scien ence” ce”…

• Caring Capacity
• Caring capacity can go up as cost of caring goes down
• Cosmic Evolution
• Relationalism – Universe as relational entity
• Dynamism – Universe as dynamic entity

Philos

• sop
• phy…
• Ethics, Value Theory, Normative Aspiration
• How should we value biological evolution?
• Cosmological Theories of Value
• Cosmological Reverence
• Cosmocultural Evolution
• Connection-Action Principle

–Inter-connectedness or Intra-connectedness? Or both?

Weak RELATIONALISM Strong

Connection-Action Principle Weak Cosmic Ethics Strong Weak

COSMOLOGICAL THEORIES OF VALUE

Strong

Morally Creative Cosmos

COSMIC EVOLUTION

Relativity, Quantum Theory, Biological Evolution, Cultural Evolution

Scientific Minimalism Cosmocultural Evolution Cosmological Reverence

Process Philosophy Creativity Diversity Complexity? Emergence?

F a c t - V a l u e , I s - O u g h t , N a t u r a l i s t i c F a l l a c y Cosmocentric Ethics

“Cosmic P Paradox”?

• If we’re alone in a “pointless” universe, we can look to each other for

caring and comfort. Implies greater reverence for each other?

• But, if we’re alone in a “pointless” universe, what’s the point of caring

for each other when our self-interest is so natural and so strong? Implies “everyone for themselves”, or “enlightened self-interest”?

• Does something like Cosmocultural Evolution help by suggesting that

valuing cultural beings like ourselves, aware of our biological evolution and cosmic origins, can make this a meaningful, caring universe via our cultural evolution?

KNOWLEDGE, WISDOM? Caring Capacity Connection-Action Principle Cosmocultural Evolution Cosmological Reverence I M P L E M E N T A T I O N Philosophy Metaphysics? Ethics Worldviews Value Theory Science Biology Cosmology? Psychology Sociology

Inner Peace Social Peace Global Peace Cosmic Peace?

PEACE

Broad Reciprocal Respect Advanced Altruism Law Social Stability Personal Security

Implementati tion

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for

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ce…

• Education of Evolutionary Psychology – starting fairly early
• Paradox: Biological evolution “programs” many to reject biological evolution as a source of human psychology
• Practical Realism vs. Factual Realism (e.g. group effectiveness and confirmation bias as practical)
• Mis-Matched Mind
• Group Selection: Nationalism, etc.
• Fight or Flight vs. Talk and Engage
• Tolerance Paradox: Does evolutionary psychology provide a more compelling motivation for tolerance? Or the reverse?!
• What does tolerance mean or imply? How much is too much? Is it the same as flight?
• Evolutionary Psychology and Cultural Evolution – how do they relate? Much work being done…
• Increase Caring Capacity by focus on reducing cost of caring – technology helps
• Apply evolutionary psychology to public policy – carefully!
• More explicit open-minded public conversation about what we value and why
• What do we think about an evolutionary source of our predispositions and values? Stay with it? Moderate it? Ultimately reject it?
• Common goals: E.g. Space exploration and space migration, Climate, Other long-term survival threats
• World Government?
• Go “Cosmic”? – at least teach a bigger picture and promote explicit exploration of philosophical/worldview implications
• Golden Rule or Meta-Golden Rule? “Do unto others as they would have you do unto them.”
• Cosmic government? Inter-Galactic Federation of Sentient Beings, Collective Commune of Cosmic Creatures, Multiversal Hive Mind
• But is the Universe (or Multiverse?) enough? www.google.com

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