David P Barash
Professor of Psychology Emeritus, University of Washington
David P Barash is an evolutionary biologist and emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle. His most recent books are Oops!: The Worst Blunders of All Time (2023, Skyhorse Publishing), Peace and Conflict Studies, 5th ed (2022, Oxford Univ Press), and Threats: Intimidation and its Discontents (2020, OUP) and Through a Glass Brightly: Using Science to See Our Species as We Really Are (2018, OUP), plus with his wife, the psychiatrist Judith Eve Lipton, Strength Through Peace: How Demilitarization Led to Peace and Happiness in Costa Rica, and What the Rest of the World Can Learn from a Tiny, Tropical Nation (2018, OUP).
Written by David P Barash
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Consciousness and altered states
Stuck with the soul
The idea of the soul is obviously a nonsense, yet its immaterial mysterious nature has deep hooks in the human psyche
David P Barash
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Evolution
Life is tough
Human life is fragile but tardigrades and other extremophiles show that life itself is in little danger of disappearing
David P Barash
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Cosmology
Anthropic arrogance
Claims that the Universe is designed for humans raise far more troubling questions than they can possibly answer
David P Barash
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War and peace
The deterrence myth
Nuclear deterrence continues to dominate international relations. Yet there is no proof it ever worked, nor that it ever will
David P Barash
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Religion
Is God a silverback?
Protective, omnipotent, scary and very territorial. The monotheistic God is modelled on a harem-keeping alpha male
David P Barash
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Biology
Paradigms lost
Science is not a ‘body of knowledge’ – it’s a dynamic, ongoing reconfiguration of knowledge and must be free to change
David P Barash
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Animals and humans
Animal magnetism
Humans are fascinated by our fellow animals – is that just an evolutionary hangover or something more profound?
David P Barash
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Evolution
Is there a war instinct?
Many evolutionists believe that humans have a drive for waging war. But they are wrong and the idea is dangerous
David P Barash
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Consciousness and altered states
Mind readers
Human awareness of our own minds and others’ is unlike that of any other animal. But why did consciousness evolve?
David P Barash
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Ecology and environmental sciences
Only connect
Buddhism and ecology both refuse to separate the human and natural worlds – and demand that we act accordingly
David P Barash