Professor of Philosophy, Columbia College Chicago
Stephen Asma is professor of philosophy and cofounder of the Research Group in Mind, Science and Culture at Columbia College Chicago. He is the author of many books, including The Evolution of Imagination (2017) and The Emotional Mind: Affective Roots of Culture and Cognition (2019), co-authored with Rami Gabriel. Asma is the host of YouTube channel “Monsterology.”
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Biology
Animal spirits
The more we learn about the emotions shared by all mammals, the more we must rethink our own human intelligence
Stephen T Asma
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Anthropology
Families made us human
The evolution of human culture can be explained, not by the size of our brains, but by the quality of our relationships
Stephen T Asma
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Gender and identity
The weaponised loser
Mass shootings have one thing in common: toxic masculinity. Where does it come from and what can be done to stop it?
Stephen T Asma
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Cognition and intelligence
We could all do with learning how to improvise a little better
Stephen T Asma
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Human evolution
Imagination is ancient
Our imaginative life today has access to the pre-linguistic, ancestral mind: rich in imagery, emotions and associations
Stephen T Asma
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Philosophy of religion
Religion is about emotion regulation, and it’s very good at it
Stephen T Asma
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Human evolution
United by feelings
Universal emotions are the deep engine of human consciousness and the basis of our profound affinity with other animals
Stephen T Asma & Rami Gabriel
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Computing and artificial intelligence
Ancient animistic beliefs live on in our intimacy with tech
Stephen T Asma
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Dance and theatre
Phantasia
Imagination is a powerful tool, a sixth sense, a weapon. We must be careful how we use it, in life as on stage or screen
Paul Giamatti & Stephen T Asma
The responses to my article have been wonderful to read. I especially appreciate the way people are forwarding paragons of improvisational thinking, like theater practitioners, military soldiers, medical improvisors and of course musicians. I share a funny story here –it ends with me standing in my underwear in a crowded store in China.
Recently, when I was living in Shanghai, I went to a chain superstore to buy a new watch. The superstore was an enormous hangar-sized structure and when I found a watch I liked, the nearby salesperson was not authorized to help me so she ran to get someone else. He arrived with a walkie-talkie and seemed like he would get things done. I pointed out ...
The weaponised loser
Stephen T AsmaThank you for the interesting comments and feedback on my article. It’s early still so I suspect there will be similarly provocative perspective to come. I’ll make a few brief remarks now and try to circle back later for more conversation.
I think NT is right, in the sense that this psychological dynamic is observable in school yard interactions. Of course bullying and revenge are as old as school itself, but is there something new going on? –I mean besides the obvious ready availability of guns in the U.S. (which is –as several have pointed out –a crucial root cause/condition of current violence. I live in Chicago. I get it.). But is there a new level of self-repression that allow...