Prof . TERRENCE MCDONOUGH’s letter to the Irish Times
Madam, – Michael Casey, reviewing The Company of Strangers: A Natural History of Economic Life(Business, July 26th), reads that evolutionary theorists believe the murder of 20 million Congolese by Belgian colonists was not down to imperialism but due to an evolutionary failure to develop sufficient trust in strangers. And yet the remainder of that day’s business pages are replete with the most touching examples of misplaced trust. We learn from Wolfgang Munchau that the strategy behind the recently completed stress tests (grade inflation for banks) was premised on the assumption of an innocent trust in the results by investors and the public, validated apparently by your reports of a positive response from “the markets”.
Donagh is the editor of Irish Left Review.
Contact Donagh through email: dublinopinionAtgmail.com
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August 1, 2010 9:31 am
Madam, – It was disappointing to find a university professor – Prof. Terrence McDonough (Letters, July 29th) – confusing our undoubted tendency for violent aggression between tribal, ethnic or racial groups with a tendency within society to over-trust organisations. The latter problem may relate to the combination of our tendency towards self-serving deception and the fact that there has been insufficient time for us to evolve a compensating scepticism in printed matter or media based reports. – Yours, etc,
TONY CAREY
Curtlestown
Enniskerry
Co Wicklow
August 4, 2010 10:11 am
I doubt this posited tendency for violent aggression between tribal, ethnic and racial groups.
August 5, 2010 7:07 am
Professor McDonough may not have been aware that
the author of the book that was reviewed – Paul Seabright – is a Professor of Economics with only limited knowledge of evolutionary psychology who admits in his introduction that “it is not a work of evolutionary psychology”. So Professor McDonough’s conclusion that “On this evidence evolutionary psychologists would appear to be no more worthy of trust than say …. economists” would appear to be inappropriate.