-
Milton Did Not Justify the Ways of God Because Reason Was Not the Right Tool
In Paradise Lost, John Milton sets out to justify the ways of God to man, asking the Holy Spirit to guide him as a muse in this project. The twelve-book poem opens with activities of fallen angels, then moves into the first humans, and concludes with a foretelling of God’s plan for humanity. The justification…
-
Notes on “Controversies in the Determination of Death: A White Paper by the President’s Council on Bioethics” Chapter 1
Full text available at https://bioethicsarchive.georgetown.edu/pcbe/reports/death/ The following are my notes. They will be posted as I complete each chapter’s notes. The first note from a new page has the page in parentheses at the end. Discussion welcome in the comments. Letter of Transmittal Ch 1: Introduction
-
WAPLT? Dejected, Forlorn, Melancholic: The DFM Spectrum
People on the DFM spectrum typically experience chronic feelings of sadness and depression that persist even when things are going well. According to the Darwinian evolutionary model, these individuals are oriented to the pain polarity and tend to behave in a passive, giving-up manner. As with the others, the spectrum has three levels, with varying…
-
WAPLT? Apathetic, Asocial, Schizoid: The AAS Spectrum
The relevance of variance in the capacity for pain and pleasure to personality includes several possibilities. The AAS spectrum is a classification that includes individuals with deficiencies in both pain and pleasure polarity objectives, meaning they lack the ability to experience events as painful or pleasurable. Two variants of the socially detached pattern are the…
-
WAPLT? Assertive, Denigrating, Sadistic: The ADS Spectrum
In contrast with the AAM spectrum, this variant of pleasure-pain reversal is paradoxical and discordant, as it views pain (such as stress, fear, and cruelty) as the preferred way of actively relating to others, rather than pleasure. The intrapsychically conflicted personality spectra include the RCC compulsive, DRN negativistic, ADS sadistic, and AAM masochistic personalities. These…
-
WAPLT? Abused, Aggrieved, Masochistic: The AAM Spectrum
This post explores the abused, aggrieved, and masochistic (AAM) personality spectrum, characterized by a reversal of the pleasure-pain polarity that leads to a preference for pain in intimate relationships. Self-defeating behaviors are pervasive and can be observed across different areas of life such as school, work, and social relationships. Self-defeating individuals tend to avoid or…
-
WAPLT?: Discontented, Resentful, Negativistic: The DRN Spectrum
The evolutionary theory identifies a group of individuals who are referred to as ambivalent. These individuals are inclined towards both their self-interests and those of others, but often experience a significant conflict between the two. In the DSM, they were initially classified as having a passive-aggressive personality, characterized by a pattern of vacillating between prioritizing…
-
WAPLT? Reliable, Constricted, Compulsive: The RCC Spectrum
In developed nations, people who demonstrate a mild variant of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder are more common than any other personality style. Unlike those with the disordered state, these individuals lead a well-disciplined and organized lifestyle that enables them to function efficiently and successfully in most of their endeavors. If things go wrong, they feel discomfort,…
-
WAPLT? Aggrandizing, Devious, Antisocial: The ADA Spectrum
According to the Bioevolutionary theory, individuals with an active-independent orientation share similarities with the antisocial personality disorder outlined in the DSM-5, now referred to as the antisocial/psychopathic type. This series refers to this group as the broad and diverse ADA spectrum. These personalities act in ways that preemptively resist their expectation of being treated poorly…
-
WAPLT? Confident, Egotistic, Narcissistic: The CEN Spectrum
Narcissistic individuals are one of two “independent” personality patterns on the Evolutionary Model. They exhibit a primary reliance on self rather than others and have learned that maximum pleasure and minimum pain are achieved by diminishing the significance of others and turning passively to the high status they assign to themselves. Although equally imbalanced as…
-
WAPLT? Deferential, Attached, Dependent: The DAD Spectrum
The DAD dependent spectrum and the SPH histrionic spectrum personalities stand out from other personality patterns due to their strong need for social approval and affection. They tend to prioritize the desires of others and adapt their behavior accordingly. These personalities have their “centers of gravity” in others, rather than in themselves. They constantly seek…
-
Ideologically Flawed Encyclopedia Article
I searched “Abortion in Animals” in The Free Dictionary, and this was the first result: That’s an interesting warning: “The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically flawed.”
-
Why People Keep Arguing Over What Jan 6 Was
It’s hard to categorize because it seems they were attempting to have it be an insurrection, but their strategy is so far from a realistic attempt that it could also be argued that they failed to even make the attempt. It’s like trying to kill someone with a rubber knife. You’re attempting murder, but there’s…
-
Why Are People Like This? Index
The links are in the order I suggest you read the series, but it’s written so you can jump around. The non-links are posts I’m planning to write.
-
WAPLT? Evolutionary Phases and Neuropsychological Stages
One important theoretical aspect of Millon’s bioevolutionary model of personality is that the survival functions develop over the course of each individual’s life as well as over the course of evolution. Thus we can see as young humans grow, they gain competence with each of the survival functions. Since these are the primary functions we…
-
WAPLT? Trait Domain and Spectra Variant Tables
This post is two quite handy tables Millon includes in his 2011 book that are worth sharing. Together they provide an overview of the information the individual personality spectra posts cover. The second column lists the spectra, with the first several letters or an abbreviation of the third personality included for ease of reading. The…
-
WAPLT? Trait Domains
While the evolutionary polarities model the underlying structure of personality, they aren’t very useful for identifying someone’s personality. The trait domains are a set of eight kinds of characteristics. Millon’s model includes fifteen possible characteristics for each domain, each corresponding to a different personality spectrum. While some of the characteristics can be identified by oneself,…
-
WAPLT? Sociable, Pleasuring, Histrionic: The SPH Spectrum
This group of personalities shares a common characteristic of turning to others as their primary strategy to achieve their goals. Unlike those in the DAD (dependent) spectrum who tend to take a passive dependency stance, the SPH personalities take an active dependency stance. They engage in a variety of manipulative, seductive, gregarious, and attention-getting maneuvers…
-
Mathematical Challenge #001 Solution
This is the solution to Mathematical Challenge #001. “The room is a rectangular prism.” Let V=the volume of the room, w=the width of the room, h=the height, l=the length. Since it’s a rectangular prism, V=whl. “The length of the room is always equal to six metres times the number of apples in the basket in…