Michael Vlerick
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 889082 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Michael Vlerick |
| NOMBRES | Michael |
| APELLIDO | Vlerick |
| FIRMA | VLERICK M |
| AFILIACIONES | Tilburg University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0664-1509 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 11 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 5 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 11 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2012 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2025 |
| ÍNDICE H | 1 |
Regulating the use of germline genetic engineering on humans
Germline genetic engineering (GGE) technologies enable us to modify the genetic material of organisms, including humans. Since using GGE on humans comes with major possible harms, its development and use should be regulated. How should we proceed? Adopting a consequentialist normative framework, I argue that we need to avoid both overly permissive regulation – exposing stakeholders to harmful effects of GGE – and overly restrictive regulation – d…
First steps on a path to scientific maturity
Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author
Explaining human altruism
Humans often behave altruistically towards strangers with no chance of reciprocation. From an evolutionary perspective, this is puzzling. The evolution of altruistic cooperative behavior—in which an organism’s action reduces its fitness and increases the fitness of another organism (e.g. by sharing food)—only makes sense when it is directed at genetically related organisms (kin selection) or when one can expect the favor to be returned (reciproca…
Towards Global Cooperation
In an important article published in this journal, Dryzek et al. (2011) champion the convocation of a deliberative global citizens' assembly (DGCA). In this article, I aim to further strengthen the case for a DGCA by addressing: (1) why a DGCA is likely to take a long‐term perspective in the global interest; and (2) why it is so vital that a global institution should do so. I start by analyzing the nature of the issues requiring global policy. Th…
The cultural evolution of institutional religions
In recent work, Atran, Henrich, Norenzayan and colleagues developed an account of religion that reconciles insights from the “by-product” accounts and the adaptive accounts. According to their synthesis, the process of cultural group selection driven by group competition has recruited our proclivity to adopt and spread religious beliefs and engage in religious practices to increase within group solidarity, harmony, and cooperation. While their ac…
The Evolution of Social Contracts
Influential thinkers such as Young, Sugden, Binmore, and Skyrms have developed game-theoretic accounts of the emergence, persistence and evolution of social contracts. Social contracts are sets of commonly understood rules that govern cooperative social interaction within societies. These naturalistic accounts provide us with valuable and important insights into the foundations of human societies. However, current naturalistic theories focus main…
The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Ethics
Evolutionary ethics - the application of evolutionary ideas to moral thinking and justification - began in the nineteenth century with the work of Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer, but was subsequently criticized as an example of the naturalistic fallacy. In recent decades, however, evolutionary ethics has found new support among both the Darwinian and the Spencerian traditions. This accessible volume looks at the history of thought about evolu…
Can evolution get us off the hook? Evaluating the ecological defence of human rationality
This paper discusses the ecological case for epistemic innocence: does biased cognition have evolutionary benefits, and if so, does that exculpate human reasoners from irrationality? Proponents of 'ecological rationality' have challenged the bleak view of human reasoning emerging from research on biases and fallacies. If we approach the human mind as an adaptive toolbox, tailored to the structure of the environment, many alleged biases and fallac…
Biological constraints do not entail cognitive closure
Biologising’ Putnam
Putnam's internal realism attempts to overcome both radical subjectivism and metaphysical realism. While he agrees with subjectivists that we understand the world through conceptual schemes, Putnam rejects their ‘anything goes’ relativist conclusions, arguing that states and properties of the external world co-determine our understanding of the world, and that some theories are more rational to accept than others. Theories, in other words, while …
How can Human Beings Transgress their Biologically Based Views
Empirical evidence from developmental psychology and anthropology points out that the human mind is predisposed to conceptualize the world in particular, species-specific ways. These cognitive predispositions lead to universal human commonsense views, often referred to as folk theories. Nevertheless, humans can transgress these views–i.e. they can contradict them with alternative descriptions, they perceive as more accurate–as exemplified in mode…
The Evolution of Social Contracts
Influential thinkers such as Young, Sugden, Binmore, and Skyrms have developed game-theoretic accounts of the emergence, persistence and evolution of social contracts. Social contracts are sets of commonly understood rules that govern cooperative social interaction within societies. These naturalistic accounts provide us with valuable and important insights into the foundations of human societies. However, current naturalistic theories focus main…
Explaining human altruism
Humans often behave altruistically towards strangers with no chance of reciprocation. From an evolutionary perspective, this is puzzling. The evolution of altruistic cooperative behavior—in which an organism’s action reduces its fitness and increases the fitness of another organism (e.g. by sharing food)—only makes sense when it is directed at genetically related organisms (kin selection) or when one can expect the favor to be returned (reciproca…
How can Human Beings Transgress their Biologically Based Views
Empirical evidence from developmental psychology and anthropology points out that the human mind is predisposed to conceptualize the world in particular, species-specific ways. These cognitive predispositions lead to universal human commonsense views, often referred to as folk theories. Nevertheless, humans can transgress these views–i.e. they can contradict them with alternative descriptions, they perceive as more accurate–as exemplified in mode…
How can Human Beings Transgress their Biologically Based Views
Empirical evidence from developmental psychology and anthropology points out that the human mind is predisposed to conceptualize the world in particular, species-specific ways. These cognitive predispositions lead to universal human commonsense views, often referred to as folk theories. Nevertheless, humans can transgress these views–i.e. they can contradict them with alternative descriptions, they perceive as more accurate–as exemplified in mode…
Biological constraints do not entail cognitive closure
Biologising’ Putnam
Putnam's internal realism attempts to overcome both radical subjectivism and metaphysical realism. While he agrees with subjectivists that we understand the world through conceptual schemes, Putnam rejects their ‘anything goes’ relativist conclusions, arguing that states and properties of the external world co-determine our understanding of the world, and that some theories are more rational to accept than others. Theories, in other words, while …
Can evolution get us off the hook? Evaluating the ecological defence of human rationality
This paper discusses the ecological case for epistemic innocence: does biased cognition have evolutionary benefits, and if so, does that exculpate human reasoners from irrationality? Proponents of 'ecological rationality' have challenged the bleak view of human reasoning emerging from research on biases and fallacies. If we approach the human mind as an adaptive toolbox, tailored to the structure of the environment, many alleged biases and fallac…
The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Ethics
Evolutionary ethics - the application of evolutionary ideas to moral thinking and justification - began in the nineteenth century with the work of Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer, but was subsequently criticized as an example of the naturalistic fallacy. In recent decades, however, evolutionary ethics has found new support among both the Darwinian and the Spencerian traditions. This accessible volume looks at the history of thought about evolu…
The Evolution of Social Contracts
Influential thinkers such as Young, Sugden, Binmore, and Skyrms have developed game-theoretic accounts of the emergence, persistence and evolution of social contracts. Social contracts are sets of commonly understood rules that govern cooperative social interaction within societies. These naturalistic accounts provide us with valuable and important insights into the foundations of human societies. However, current naturalistic theories focus main…
Towards Global Cooperation
In an important article published in this journal, Dryzek et al. (2011) champion the convocation of a deliberative global citizens' assembly (DGCA). In this article, I aim to further strengthen the case for a DGCA by addressing: (1) why a DGCA is likely to take a long‐term perspective in the global interest; and (2) why it is so vital that a global institution should do so. I start by analyzing the nature of the issues requiring global policy. Th…
The cultural evolution of institutional religions
In recent work, Atran, Henrich, Norenzayan and colleagues developed an account of religion that reconciles insights from the “by-product” accounts and the adaptive accounts. According to their synthesis, the process of cultural group selection driven by group competition has recruited our proclivity to adopt and spread religious beliefs and engage in religious practices to increase within group solidarity, harmony, and cooperation. While their ac…
Explaining human altruism
Humans often behave altruistically towards strangers with no chance of reciprocation. From an evolutionary perspective, this is puzzling. The evolution of altruistic cooperative behavior—in which an organism’s action reduces its fitness and increases the fitness of another organism (e.g. by sharing food)—only makes sense when it is directed at genetically related organisms (kin selection) or when one can expect the favor to be returned (reciproca…
First steps on a path to scientific maturity
Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author
Regulating the use of germline genetic engineering on humans
Germline genetic engineering (GGE) technologies enable us to modify the genetic material of organisms, including humans. Since using GGE on humans comes with major possible harms, its development and use should be regulated. How should we proceed? Adopting a consequentialist normative framework, I argue that we need to avoid both overly permissive regulation – exposing stakeholders to harmful effects of GGE – and overly restrictive regulation – d…
Epistemology (7 obras) · Computer Science (6 obras) · Philosophy (6 obras) · Sociology (6 obras) · Political science (5 obras) · Psychology (5 obras) · Law (4 obras) · Cognition (3 obras) · Cognitive science (3 obras) · Evolution and Science Education (3 obras)