ID the Future Intelligent Design, Evolution, and Science Podcast
Author

Denyse O'Leary

primates

Evolutionary Psychology: Checkered Past, Checkered Present

On this ID the Future host Casey Luskin interviews science journalist Denyse O’Leary about her recent essay, “Is Evolutionary Psychology a Legitimate Way to Understand Our Humanity,” which appears in the new Harvest House anthology co-edited by Luskin, The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith. O’Leary, a science journalist and co-author of The Spiritual Brain, offers a withering critique of evolutionary psychology and traces its roots, beginning with The Descent of Man (1871), where Charles Darwin attributed various human behaviors to natural and sexual selection. That fed into what became known as social Darwinism, which fell out of favor after World War II thanks to Hitler and the Nazis’ application of social Darwinist ideas to defend Nordic superiority and genocide. The ideas resurfaced in modified form under the banner of sociobiology, and then later still, as evolutionary psychology. This latter manifestation, O’Leary says, marks the most comprehensive attempt to explain the various facets of human behavior in evolutionary terms, but its comprehensiveness has not won it widespread acceptance. Far from it. The field is quick to offer explanations for why we do what we do, but it has left a train of blunders in its wake. So for instance, evolutionary psychologists claimed that we associate pink with little girls and blue with little boys due to the sex-based division of labor among our primitive ancestors over the course of millions of years of evolutionary development. In primitive societies the girls gathered fruit (pink when ripe), and the boys fished (and blue is associated with water). Mystery solved? But wait. In Victorian England, pink was associated with boys and blue with girls. Do we have an evolutionary explanation for that as well? Give any reasonably creative company of evolutionary psychologists an evening and a twelve-pack, and they’d probably be able to dream up a sure-fire evolutionary explanation. Evolutionary psychology, with its ability to explain everything and its opposite, convincingly explains nothing. According to O’Leary, distaste for the field stretches well beyond the company of Darwin dissenters. Most evolutionists steer clear of evolutionary psychology, and even some who probably count themselves as fully paid-up members of the Darwinian materialist guild openly criticize it. Thus it seems that if we want to effectively explain human behavior in all its messy richness, we would do well to look beyond the box of just-so stories built from Darwin’s toolkit of natural and sexual selection.

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Is the Brain Just an Illusion?

On this episode of ID The Future CSC’s Anika Smith interviews science writer Denyse O’Leary about her new book, The Spiritual Brain. In the book O’Leary and her co-author Mario Beaurogard, neuroscientist and Associate Professor at Université de Montréal, explore the question of whether or not the mind is an illusion as materialists believe, or is it more than that? For instance, The Spiritual Brain looks at whether religious experiences come from God, or are they merely the random firing of neurons in the brain? Drawing on his own research with Carmelite nuns, Beauregard shows that genuine, life-changing spiritual events can be documented. He and O’Leary offer compelling evidence that mind creates matter rather than matter creating mind.

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Denyse O’Leary Explores Cultural Differences

Today on ID The Future, Denyse O’Leary draws on her experience with cultural issues to trace differences between Canadian and American attitudes toward evolution, the question of origins, and religion. O’Leary also analyzes the European mentality toward the status quo and, more specifically, Darwinism.

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Denyse O’Leary versus the Darwinbots

Today author and journalist Denyse O’Leary talks about the ongoing ID-evolution debate on the internet. O’Leary reveals how she handles so-called “Darwinbots” on her Post-Darwinist blog, relishing the chance to take on her chattering detractors. She also looks at how the debate generates publicity for intelligent design.

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Brain Matter: Denyse O’Leary and The Spiritual Brain

Today on ID The Future, CSC’s Anika Smith sits down with journalist and blogger Denyse O’Leary to discuss the focus of her new book The Spiritual Brain. In this interview, O’Leary grapples with materialist arguments concerning the mind and spirituality. She also explains why materialism is a monistic philosophy and explores the effect this has on its line of reasoning.

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Blogophile: Denyse O’Leary and the Blogosphere

ID The Future continues its interview with journalist and author Denyse O’Leary. In this episode, CSC’s Casey Luskin speaks with O’Leary about the nature of the blogosphere, her history as a blogger, and the array of blogs she writes for, including Post-Darwinist and William Dembski’s Uncommon Descent. Stay tuned to ID The Future for additional interviews with Denyse O’Leary.

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Chance Encounter: Denyse O’Leary and By Design or By Chance

In this episode of ID The Future, CSC’s Casey Luskin interviews journalist and author Denyse O’Leary about the Darwin-ID debate, her writing career, and her book By Design or By Chance?: The Growing Controversy on the Origins of Life in the Universe. O’Leary describes how David Berlinski’s 1996 piece The Deniable Darwin first introduced her to the dispute between intelligent design and Darwinian evolution. Her subsequent research and writing on this topic eventually led to her 2004 book By Design or By Chance, which presents an unbiased and journalistic view of the controversy. O’Leary concludes with a discussion about other facets of her career, including the nature of her research and the criticism she has received as a journalist writing about intelligent design. Stay tuned to ID The Future for more interviews with Denyse O’Leary.

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