Patterns of Meaning: The Patterning Instinct + Overthrowing The Selfish Gene / Jeremy Lent
In this episode, I speak with Jeremy Lent, author of The Pattering Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning, and founder and president of the Liology Institute.
The premise of The Patterning Instinct is that culture shapes values, and values shape history. Through this exploration, Jeremy examined various cultures and societies and determined the underlying premises of their cultural stories and metaphors, and how that informs how the collective patterns meaning onto the world and their place within it.
We discussed the ways, through our understanding of humanity's patterning instinct, how our culture and society can begin to adopt more holistic understandings and relationships with our fellow human beings and life on this planet.
We go over the response and underlying premise of Jeremy's widely shared, recently published article The Dangerous Delusions of Richard Dawkins, published originally in AlterNet and picked up by Raw Story and Salon. Jeremy discusses the increasingly irrelevant theory of the "selfish gene" originally proposed by Richard Dawkins, and the reductionist worldview this meme supports, beyond its biological roots. Jeremy explains why he wrote this piece, and why the article has received the response it has.
Episode Notes:
Learn more about Jeremy's work on his website and his blog Patterns of Meaning
Learn about his nonprofit, The Liology Institute
Check out his book, The Patterning Instinct
Read his article The Dangerous Delusions of Richard Dawkins
Read Jerry Coyne's (Dawkins' colleague and friend) response
