Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

cc's picture

Sentimental Value and the Cognitive Conscious

Imagine: a large garbage bag, clearly full of unwanted items such as used clothes, books, and maybe the occasional string of Christmas lights.  Just a big pile of junk.  Peeping through the top of the bag, a pair of melancholy eyes follow your gaze.  It’s a stuffed bear.  The stitched mouth seems to form a sad smile, as if to say, “Please take me...  I can be your friend.”  What is it about the oddly shaped pieces of fabric, stitched together and stuffed with cotton, with two button “eyes” and a sewed on mouth that make us feel sorry for the abandoned toy?

hope's picture

the brain and religion

Why do people believe that there is a god? Some experts, such as anthropologist Scott Atran, believe that our propensity for religious belief is a byproduct of evolution (Brooks). New scientific evidence is suggesting that the neuronal pathways of our brain both reinforce religious belief and are altered by it.

hope's picture

Book Commentary of Girl, Interupted

In her memoir, Girl Interrupted, Susanna Kaysen describes her two-year experience in a mental health facility for young women in the 60s, where she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Interwoven in her narrative of life on a psychiatric ward is a subtle message: being insane isn’t really all that different from being sane.   

eolecki's picture

The Story of Evolution and the Evolution of Stories: Charter School Edition

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE
fquadri's picture

The Emergence and Evolution of Belief, Religion, and the Concept of God Pt II

I say to mankind, Be not curious about God.

For I, who am curious about each, am not curious about God

… I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least. ­

– Walt Whitman (“Song of Myself”)

 

fquadri's picture

Love Isn't All About the Heart

Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
unidentifiedflyingobject's picture

The act of confession in literature

“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.” (James 5:16)

“It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.”
Oscar Wilde


Charles Darwin begins his famous On the Origin of Species with a confession. After relating some details of his early journey on the H.M.S. Beagle, he explains that questions he asked during his trip accumulated into “a sketch of the conclusions” that he now presents in this volume (95). He writes, “I hope that I may be excused for entering on these personal details, as I give them to show that I have not been hasty in coming to a decision” (95).

nafisam's picture

Moving Too Fast: Ethics of Enhancement Drugs

In America's fast paced society, it seems as though everyone is looking for a quick fix solution to their problems. We are always looking to make ourselves better, and perform at optimum level. Every commercial on television, and every dietary supplement passed in the store is a constant reminder that human beings are inefficient. These images only fuel the fire for the quest for the perfect mind and body. In order to keep up with our fast paced environment, many people are turning to enhancement drugs that allow for more efficient function. Many individuals who are considered healthy and "normal" are continually turning to self-diagnosis and self-medication in the hopes of eliminating imperfections.
Lisa B.'s picture

Does Evolution Come From Art?

“As the evolution of knowledge proceeds by truer and more necessary knowledge dislodging and replacing what is mistaken and unnecessary, so the evolution of feeling proceeds through art, -feelings less kind and less needful for the well-being of mankind are replaced by others kinder and more needful for that end. That is the purpose of art.”
Syndicate content