NEWS FROM THE DIRECTOR
At each seminar I stand up and say something about Integrated Human Studies because it’s a new field and we want people to understand how we are different from other interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches. Human wellbeing is at the core of our ideology, and we believe that to achieve it we must thoroughly understand what it means to be a human being. Integrating understandings from many fields of study is, we believe, necessary to inform the decisions human beings will have to make to ensure our species’ (and other species’) survival through this century and beyond. I’m happy to tell you that we have a new resource to aid your understanding of Integrated Human Studies, and a new way for you to continue to discuss the issues that arise at our seminars. See the announcement in this newsletter of our Wiki on Integrated Human Studies (“Join our online community”). We also now have an entry in Wikipedia. Thanks to Steve and Karen for these Wiki-happenings, which will allow me to say less at each seminar, and let our speakers have more time.
Associate Professor Neville Bruce
Director, Centre for Integrated Human Studies
NEXT SEMINAR, September 3
The next seminar promises spirited discussion (!). It’s an irresistible pun when the topic is “the human spirit” and the presenters will speak “for” and “against” religion. Joining UWA chaplain Michael Wood and Professor Mike Anderson is actor and author (Someone Else’s Country) Peter Docker, who has had a rare insight – for a wadjula – into Indigenous spirituality. The seminar will be held at 5.30 pm in Seminar room 1.81 in the School of Anatomy and Human Biology at the University of Western Australia (two buildings south of Shenton House on the Matilda Bay side of the campus). The seminars are free and light refreshments are available.
Seminar 3, 3 September 08 : The human spirit
Are religion and spirituality the same things/opposite sides of the same coin? Or can you have one without the other? Is religion a means of social control – “the opiate of the masses” – or an essential part of human wellbeing? Are materialism and spirituality mutually incompatible? Is there a psychological basis for religious or spiritual experiences in individuals? Many people suggest we need to reconnect with the wisdom of Indigenous people, but how is this possible in practical terms?
Chair: Prof Dennis Haskell
Presenters: Michael Wood – How religion can contribute to human wellbeing
Prof Mike Anderson – The psychology of religious belief
Peter Docker – what/how we can learn from Aboriginal spirituality
NOTES FROM THE LAST SEMINAR, HEALTH
Dr Debra Judge, an evolutionary ecologist, began by making the point that human beings are not special organisms, and their longevity sits within a range of long-lived animals. Some researchers look at “supercentenarians” to find out why they live to such great ages, but for an evolutionary biologist it is more useful to understand the traits of long-lived animals. All mammals put energy into growth, maintenance and reproduction, but living a long time means more energy must be devoted to growth and maintenance, at the expense of reproduction. The question asked by an evolutionist is what benefit this confers on the individual. The traits longlived
animals share are: they have few, large offspring; they invest in every developmental stage of the offspring; they have a longer adult life span; they have relatively larger brains; they live in cooperative social groups. An academic exercise in predicting the lifespan of human beings by comparing with other primates predicts a range of 74 – 92 years. It may be easier to get lifespan up to this age but more difficult to extend it beyond. Life expectancy – the average number of years before death of individuals in a population – is a different measure. Debra showed various graphs and statistics to illustrate the point that the greatest impact on life expectancy occurs in the first five years of life. Therefore the greatest improvement in life expectancy can be achieved by improving (reducing) mortality and morbidity in babies and children. A feedback loop develops whereby the fertility of the population is lowered to reflect better survival of infants, and those infants are successfully reared to continue the cycle. Debra surmises that this kind of feedback loop also occurs in social circumstances. Debra’s
PowerPoint notes are here.
Media references
Karen Connolly
Integrated Human Studies
School of Anatomy and Human Biology
The University of Western Australia
35 Stirling Highway Crawley WA 6009
+61 08 6488 3647 email: kconnolly@anhb.uwa.edu.au
In the office on Mondays and Thursdays - for urgent enquiries please phone Neville Bruce on +61 08 6488 3292
