Financial Times: you cannot reduce anything truly worthwhile to a technique
“Ultimately, however, none of these provides a satisfactory answer because it is indeed a genuine paradox, an irresolvable contradiction at the heart of human existence. The best we can do, suggests Slingerland, is “to not push too hard when trying is bad, and not think too much when reflection is the enemy”. If we do that, “the flow of life is always there, eager to pull us along in its wake.””
Julian Baggini, “Templates for gaining wisdom,” Financial Times, March 7th 2014.
The Huffington Post: jaunty and refreshing good humor
“With sometimes jaunty and refreshing good humor, a good number of insights drawn from personal experience and, given the complexity of the philosophical concepts he explores, mercifully readable prose, Slingerland walks us through four phases of early Chinese thought: Confucianism, which preaches “carving and polishing”—the long, painstaking work of cultivating manners (for the gentleman) or craft (for the artist), until perfection can be achieved with spontaneous ease; the Daoism of Laozi (Lao-Tzu), favoring the “uncarved block” or, as the author puts it in a succinct appendix summary, “stop trying immediately, go home”; Mencian Confucianism, “try, but don’t force it”; and the Daoism of Zuangzi, “try to forget all about trying or not trying, just go with the flow.” ”
Peter Clothier, “Just Do It,” The Huffington Post, February 24th 2014.
The National Post: scientific ideas to “retire”
“Unlike rock stars, scientific ideas do not usually burn out. They fade away and outlast their usefulness.
This is what motivated a new survey of 166 scientists and intellectuals, asking which ideas ought to be “retired” from science, not quite because they are wrong, but because they are old and ineffective, like nature versus nurture, left-brain versus right-brain, or carbon footprints.”
Joesph Brean, “IQ, Big Bang, evolution on list of incomplete or outdated ideas scientists suggest are ready to be ‘retired’,” The National Post, January 14th 2014.
Edge: scientific morality is an idea ready to “retire”
“The third culture consists of those scientists and other thinkers in the empirical world who, through their work and expository writing, are taking the place of the traditional intellectual in rendering visible the deeper meanings of our lives, redefining who and what we are. ”
John Brockman, “What Scientific Idea is Ready for Retirement?” Edge.org, January 1st 2014.
University Affairs: new project on religion and prosociality
“According to the project’s website, despite religion’s omnipresence and centrality to human affairs, it remains, from an academic viewpoint, one of the least studied and most poorly understood aspects of human behavior. “In the past, people have done big, sweeping historical cross-cultural projects. But they tended to generalize, and they were doing it all on their own,” says Edward Slingerland, principal investigator of the project and a professor of Asian studies at UBC. “The difference [here] is we’re doing it with a network of experts who are bringing a range of expertise and materials, and we’re putting it all together like a big puzzle.””
Diane Peters, “Does Religion Make Us Better?” University Affairs, November 6th 2013.
University of British Columbia: Religion is one of the least studied and most misunderstood aspects of human life
“Throughout the world, religion is one of the most central commonalities that humans share. Whether we choose to follow a religion or not, every culture has one if not many religions woven through everyday life. Considering the importance of religion in human social life, we should all have a very clear understanding of why it exists, but we don’t.
“Religion is one of the least studied and most misunderstood aspects of human life, despite its central role in society,” says UBC Faculty of Arts Professor Edward Slingerland.”
“Annual Report: Digging into Religion,” UBC Annual Report 2012-2013, July 1st 2013.
Vancouver Sun: the world’s largest study on the evolution of religion and morality
“Why is a self-described “complete atheist” in charge of a $3-million research project into religion?
To find out how Edward Slingerland, a professor of Asian Studies at the University of B.C., came to be the primary investigator for the world’s largest study on the evolution of religion and morality, we need to go back a couple of decades.”
Douglas Todd, “Smart atheist heads $3-million grant into religion and morality,” Vancouver Sun, January 11th 2013.
The National Post: religion and civilization
““There is a view that religion is an ancient superstition that’s going to fall away,” said Edward Slingerland, a professor of Asian studies at the University of British Columbia and the lead of a massive Canadian project billed as world’s largest academic study of religion.
“If our theory is right it’s actually been the cornerstone to civilizations.””
“Research team looking to prove controversial theory that religion was the ‘cornerstone to civilizations’,” The National Post, December 21st 2012.
The University of British Columbia: cultural evolution of religion
““Holidays help us express and affirm our cultural values,” says Slingerland, who recently launched the world’s largest study on the evolution of religion with colleagues at UBC and SFU. “So as culture changes, whether through immigration or evolution of attitudes, our holidays will evolve as well.”
“That time spent strengthening bonds with family, friends and community, has real meaning for people and is important for social cohesion,” says Slingerland, who is a professor in UBC’s Dept. of Asian Studies and Canada Research Chair in Chinese Thought and Embodied Cognition.”
Basil Waugh, “From human sacrifice to Santa Claus: the cultural evolution of religious beliefs,” The University of British Columbia, December 5th 2012.
The University of British Columbia: Taoism [Daoism] and pop culture
““I was always interested in Taoism,” Professor Edward Slingerland says, “and now that I’m a scholar of this stuff, I find a lot of the students who take classes from me have similar motivations to the ones I once had.”
Slingerland, parallel to many of his students, was motivated to study Taoism by its influence on pop culture icons, like the celebrated 1950s and 1960s American writers of the “Beat Generation” troupe. Having studied it formally, he’s found that his initial motivation was somewhat misdirected as these influences are basically mistaken about Taoism and Zen.”
“Meet Dr. Edward Slingerland: Taoism with a twist,” The University of British Columbia, November 4th 2010.