Apr 10, 2025 02:36 PM
(This post was last modified: Apr 10, 2025 02:39 PM by C C.)
Does testosterone make men?
https://aeon.co/essays/a-psychologist-an...stosterone
INTRO: Does biology determine destiny, or is society the dominant cause of masculine and feminine traits? In this spirited exchange, the psychologist Cordelia Fine and the evolutionary biologist Carole Hooven unpack the complex relationship between testosterone and human behaviour.
Fine emphasises variability, flexibility and context – seeing gender as shaped by social forces as much as it is by hormones. By contrast, Hooven stresses consistent patterns; while acknowledging the influence of culture and the differences between individuals, she maintains that biology explains why certain sex-linked behaviours persist across cultures.
At stake in this debate is how we understand ourselves and organise our communities. Can we achieve equality by changing cultural norms, or must we accommodate biological realities that evolution has inscribed in our brains? As you read, notice how these scholars interpret the same evidence through fundamentally different frameworks – revealing why discussions about sex differences remain both scientifically complex and politically charged... (MORE - details)
When does consciousness begin in humans?
https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-b...-heres-why
EXCERPT: . . . All this is to say, the various tests that neuroscientists can do suggest that young babies – and perhaps foetuses – have some level of consciousness.
But it’s time to address the elephant in the room. If consciousness begins before birth, this might raise questions about the ethics of abortion. However, Frohlich says there is no need to worry.
“What is really important to understand here is we’re only talking about the last trimester of pregnancy, which is usually after the legal limits on abortion in most jurisdictions,” he says. “The vast, vast, vast majority of abortions that take place are much earlier than that, usually in the first trimester of pregnancy.”
Any earlier than the third trimester would predate the development of part of the brain that processes sensory signals: the thalamus, nicknamed the gateway to consciousness.
“The thalamus doesn’t even establish connections – synapses – with the cerebral cortex until the beginning of the third trimester, or 24 to 26 weeks’ gestation,” says Frohlich. “Until then, there’s not really plausible consciousness – at least as we know it; filled with sensations from the outside world.”
However, the work of neuroscientists like Frohlich could have profound implications for how we decide what other entities count as conscious... (MORE - missing details)
PAPER: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full.../apa.17449
https://aeon.co/essays/a-psychologist-an...stosterone
INTRO: Does biology determine destiny, or is society the dominant cause of masculine and feminine traits? In this spirited exchange, the psychologist Cordelia Fine and the evolutionary biologist Carole Hooven unpack the complex relationship between testosterone and human behaviour.
Fine emphasises variability, flexibility and context – seeing gender as shaped by social forces as much as it is by hormones. By contrast, Hooven stresses consistent patterns; while acknowledging the influence of culture and the differences between individuals, she maintains that biology explains why certain sex-linked behaviours persist across cultures.
At stake in this debate is how we understand ourselves and organise our communities. Can we achieve equality by changing cultural norms, or must we accommodate biological realities that evolution has inscribed in our brains? As you read, notice how these scholars interpret the same evidence through fundamentally different frameworks – revealing why discussions about sex differences remain both scientifically complex and politically charged... (MORE - details)
When does consciousness begin in humans?
https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-b...-heres-why
EXCERPT: . . . All this is to say, the various tests that neuroscientists can do suggest that young babies – and perhaps foetuses – have some level of consciousness.
But it’s time to address the elephant in the room. If consciousness begins before birth, this might raise questions about the ethics of abortion. However, Frohlich says there is no need to worry.
“What is really important to understand here is we’re only talking about the last trimester of pregnancy, which is usually after the legal limits on abortion in most jurisdictions,” he says. “The vast, vast, vast majority of abortions that take place are much earlier than that, usually in the first trimester of pregnancy.”
Any earlier than the third trimester would predate the development of part of the brain that processes sensory signals: the thalamus, nicknamed the gateway to consciousness.
“The thalamus doesn’t even establish connections – synapses – with the cerebral cortex until the beginning of the third trimester, or 24 to 26 weeks’ gestation,” says Frohlich. “Until then, there’s not really plausible consciousness – at least as we know it; filled with sensations from the outside world.”
However, the work of neuroscientists like Frohlich could have profound implications for how we decide what other entities count as conscious... (MORE - missing details)
PAPER: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full.../apa.17449
