Articles
LOVE THY NEIGHBOR: The evolution of in-group morality
by John Hartung
The world's major religions espouse a moral code that includes injunctions against murder, theft, and lying - or so conventional 19th- and 20th-century Western wisdom would have it. Evidence put forth here argues that this convention is a conceit which does not apply to the West's own religious foundations.
PROSPECTS FOR EXISTENCE: Morality and Genetic Engineering
by John Hartung
"Let us understand, once for all, that the ethical progress of society depends, not on imitating the cosmic process, still less in running away from it, but in combating it." -- Thomas Henry Huxley, Evolution and Ethics
CHASTITY AND FIDELITY: Biblical Roots Of The Short Leash On Women
by John Hartung
The Bible instructs men to take a proactive approach to their problem with paternity -- the possibility that their putative children are not their genetic offspring -- by murdering brides who do not bleed on first penetration, by murdering prospective wives who are not virgins, by torturing and murdering wives who are suspected of adultery, and by murdering women who have committed adultery.
Although some non-Western cultures also sanctify these practices, in other cultures women have traditionally been "very free and at liberty in doing what they please with themselves" (Barbosa 1500:105-6). It follows that the Bible's dark legacy is not a requirement of human nature.
RAPE: Biblical Roots Of The Long Leash On Men
by John Hartung
If a man is executed for rape, the cost side of his cost/benefit equation is his entire future reproductive success. Nevertheless, a propensity to rape when the chance of being punished is negligible would be naturally selected. Estimating the cost of rape can require extensive knowledge about a potential victim's family, prevailing laws, and the probability of getting caught. In the absence of relevant guidelines, decision thresholds for rape can only be reached at the extremes - i.e., when it is clearly safe, and when it is clearly too dangerous.
As is the case with so many of life's quandaries, the Holy Bible provides guidelines for rape. The ramifications of these rules were detailed by the Sages of the Talmud and codified by Maimonides. Unfortunately, biblical guidelines for rape, and the attitudes toward women that they entail, remain an important part of our cultural legacy.
Shiksa: Biblical Roots of Racism
by John Hartung
Most of us would agree that a distinction should be maintained between Gentiles who fall in love with Jews and Gentiles who haul them off to concentration camps. But Rabbi Epharim Z. Buchwald has a special insight in this regard -- the net effect is indistinguishable, and it's the bottom line that counts.
Passover: Caveat Emptor.
by John Hartung
Ancient nations were able to fabricate foundation myths out of whole cloth. There were no historical documents to contradict even their wildest fantasies. In distinction, newer nations are limited to embellishing and mythologizing their known historical development. Nevertheless, in both cases, commonly held myths serve a purpose.
The Message of Evolution
by John Hartung
Did you ever imagine that everything stops existing when you close your eyes - and is recreated just as you open them? It helps to be about 3 years old and stuck on a bench in a silent place where people are praying. Perhaps you can even remember shutting your eyes very tightly — to make sure that everything was gone — then trying to open them quickly and suddenly enough to catch a glimpse of the void.
DECEIVING DOWN: Conjectures on the Management of Subordinate Status
by John Hartung
The hypothesis here is that people use self-deception to lower their self-esteem when it is to their advantage to be satisfied with a position that they would otherwise perceive as unfair. Consider a man whose job is lower ranking than he knows he deserves. If he has no hope of advancement he may eventually, through self-deception, convince himself that he is commensurate with his job's status. Instead of seeing himself as too good for his job, this form of self-deception will enable him to reconcile the disparity between his self-image and his reality.
Eusocial Coprophagous Diploids - Who is Reproducing?
by John Hartung
Troyer (1984) has put forth the insightful hypothesis that sociality among herbivores who digest plant structural tissue has been given impetus by the close contact required to exchange obligate gut symbionts.
The Final Settlement
by John Hartung (Palestine Times, October 1997)
Netanyahu's objectives for a Final Settlement with the Palestinians were recently described by Uzi Benziman: "to annex at least 50 percent of the West Bank (the Jordan Valley, the old Green Line, Gush Etzion and greater Jerusalem); to allow the Palestinian Authority no more than the status of a quasi-state (like Puerto Rico or Andora) without arms or an army; to continue controlling its borders and airspace; to be able to limit its immigration and its access to Israeli [sic] water resources; to leave most of the Israeli settlements under Israeli sovereignty; and to continue Israeli control over both parts of Jerusalem, while possibly granting some status to an Arab entity over the Temple Mount mosques" (HA'ARETZ, September 21).
KNOW YOUR ENEMY: Netanyahu
by John Hartung (Palestine Times, November 1997)
On October 6th a JERUSALEM POST editorial charged that Netanyahu is "characterized by impulsiveness, poor judgement and faulty decision-making."
Thou Shalt Not Kill Whom?
by John Hartung (Palestine Times, December 1997)
Zionism comes from the bowels of the Bible. In a display of chutzpah even more galling than the Balfour Declaration, the first Zionists invented a god who commanded them to commit genocide.
Whose Lord?
by John Hartung (Palestine Times, January 1998)
Two annual rituals were performed last month in America. On December 12th the United States joined Israel to vote against Palestinian self-determination in a United Nations resolution that passed 160-2. And on December 25th, Americans celebrated Christmas.
THE VIRTUES OF VIOLENCE AGAINST PROPERTY: Advice for The New Intifadah
by John Hartung (Palestine Times, February 1998)
Any Palestinian who thinks that killing tens, or hundreds, or even thousands of Jewish children will stop the Crusade of Zionism should remember Ben-Gurion's words.
Taking Aim and Buying Time
by John Hartung (Palestine Times, March 1998)
Imagine being the Commander-in-Chief of United States Armed Forces. You just spent $800,000,000 getting three aircraft carriers and tens of thousands of soldiers ready to attack Iraq, but you have one outstanding problem: targeting.
John Hartung is the Associate Editor of the Journal of Neurosurgical Anesthesiology and an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at the State University of New York.
His Ph.D. is in anthropology from Harvard. About half of Dr. Hartung's publications are in social science, with the rest in medicine (Curriculum Vitae).
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