Hello,
Happy holidays. I wanted to journal about what I’ve been reading over the last few weeks, which has influenced what I want to read about over the subsequent few weeks.
(1) Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will (2023), by Robert M. Sapolsky
I haven’t decided if I’ll write a full review but this is my favorite book I’ve read on this topic and it’s a seminal read. I share the same beliefs as Sapolsky - we are so-called “hard determinists” in a world of mostly compatabilist thinkers, be they “soft determinists” or what is called “libertarian metaphysicists.” I share the goal(s) of the author as well: if we can at least get people to believe two things we would all be living in a more humane world. First, throughout history where we have substracted out personal responsibility and learned more biological and empirically based reasons for X, Y, or Z, the world has improved. In instances such as epilepsy, once falsely attributed to satanic possession, or the harmful practice of blaming mothers (known as Schizophrenogenic mothering) for their child's schizophrenia without any evidence base, progress occurred when we stopped assigning blame to individuals for factors beyond their control. This shift not only benefited society but also improved the lives of those who were wrongly held responsible. And second, if people want to cling onto a belief in free will, that they hopefully will start to really see that with more and more evidence coming in from neuroscience and biology, in general, that in most cases, any sense of just punishment or reward doesn’t make sense, and that we treat each other as humanely as possible with this understanding.
An amazing read. Here is what I wrote in my Goodreads “review” that isn’t really a review but just some post-reading thoughts:
An essential read. I consider it one of my life's works to get people to understand this fact about us. It is, indeed, liberating, but only because it's so so true what Sapolsky presents here. And I include that latter clause just to say, "I wasn't going looking for confirmation bias that free will didn't exist." I just absolutely am convinced of the argument and position that no free will produces "hard determinism.” I remember the first time I really understood -- or "believed" if you don't allow me to be self-congratulatory and confident here -- that free will wasn't real was and it was as I was reading Sam Harris' Free Will (2012) sitting down in the Barnes and Noble where I luckily made eye contact with the book. I immediately felt WAY more empathy and excitement for everything. Everyone is so adorable. I feel more present; not less. I feel like I have more "control,"; not less (I know I don't in terms of Sapolsky's ultimate argument, but I mean this: I know that in order for change to happen, I have to do stuff so that maybe that "doing that stuff" will change the dice options towards options that make my life more full of joy.)
Sapolsky if you see this: you are not alone. This book is seminal. Thank you for writing it.
(2) “This is Not the Way to Help Depressed Teenagers,” The New York Times (November 18, 2023), by Darby Saxbe
Saxbe’s thesis is that teenagers being hyperaware of “mental health” terms seems to be backfiring for three reasons. She does that by examining mental health programs to see if they have been working. First, teens identifying so strongly with mental health terms could be producing “prevalence inflation,” when trying to understand “problems of living” that is exacerbating and making teens feel more, not less depressed. Teens pathologizing themselves is dangerous, obviously. Her second reason is nuanced: maybe the programs aren’t the problem but the setting (school) is and the students in the programs might not be the right students for said programs. Read the essay for her explication. Her third reason is that these therapies need to be coupled with other, more empirically supported strategies. There needs to be better follow through.
My cards on the table: obviously children having some notion that they aren’t to blame for having ADHD and that something like “mental health” is real is better than the alternatives, having children think in terms of “laziness” or “lack of grit” that they are “bad” or whatever. But any psychological framing or tools that were developed by professionals and to be carefully used in clinical settings can be weapons of mass destruction and weaponized when the public gets ahold of them.
This is all so important.
(3) Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam is Reshaping the World (2016),
Shadi Hamid
The ongoing Israel-Palestine situation has brought me back to some bigger themes and questions that we as a world are facing and will have to continue to face. The chapters in this book I am most interested in at this moment are the chapters that explore how Christianity became more secular and how Islam due to it’s particular history, politics, and theological precepts makes it “unlikely” to happen, according to Hamid, a scholar on Islam. He has received some serious pushback, that I am eager to get to, as well. Regardless of one’s views of the future of Islam and it’s secularization or lack of, the content of the subtitle is objectively true.
~
Now on to the books I am thinking of reading next. I’ll probably make my decision right after publishing this letter.
(1) Freud: The Making of an Illusion (2018), Frederick Crews
I’m extremely interested in critiques of Freud and psychoanalysis. I can’t say I chose this book totally randomly out of the one’s I found, but essentially I did. I really enjoy psychology and I thought I enjoyed psychoanalysis but I am starting to run into stuff critiquing it (especially Sapolsky). I am eager to see just how fraudulent Freud was - and what is redeemable of the psychoanalytic methods, if anything.
(2) Homelessness is a Housing Problem: How Strcutural Factors Explain U.S. Patterns (2022), by Gregg Colburn and Clayton Page Aldern
I am deeply interested in homelessness and the situation—causes, solutions, funding streams—impacts what I do for a living. And the politics around the issues brings out the worst in people. I love that the title of the book is so clear that it articulates the thesis.
(3) Four Realms of Existence: A New Theory of Being Human, by Joseph E. LeDoux
I knew nothing about this book when I ordered it. I’d never heard of the author. I purchased solely based on the publisher and the topic. Belknap Harvard always puts out top-of-the-line books. I bought it based on a hunch. I still know almost nothing about it except I skimmed the “four realms” and saw that LeDoux’s expertise is in neural science, psychiatry, and psychology and that he directs the Emotional Brain Institute at NYU which has me more excited to read this now.
Thanks,
Patrick M. Foran