Darwin In Situ

"It 'has always appeared to me more satisfactory to look at the immense amount of pain & suffering in this world, as the inevitable result of the natural sequence of events, i.e. general laws, rather than from the direct intervention of God' [said Darwin]. Like most Victorian parents, Darwin had watched several of his children die in infancy, including his beloved daughter Annie in 1851. He was not the only one who found such tragedies easier to comprehend if they resulted from 'general laws', rather than being the products of God’s personal and seemingly murderous intent."

From a London Times book review of an interesting book looking at Darwin and the religious views of the time. Read it here.

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Gimmie! Gimmie! Please?

"In exploring the morality of economic behavior, they aim to put a more positive spin on Western-style capitalism. They want to demonstrate, in a post-Enron world, that markets are driven not by greed but by positive behavior.

To test their theories, researchers from economics and other disciplines are conducting a variety of studies, including experiments that look at how monkeys work together to get their favorite foods and the effect of business school teachings on values in the boardroom."

Evelyn Iritani writes about a possibly new discipline they are calling the "science of moral behavior." Read all about it in the Los Angeles Times.