The grand experiment continues with a series of naturalistic explanations for the origins of ideas or modes of life. The scholar's intellectual habits are inherited "in blood and instinct"; Spinoza's philosophy is sourced to his sickliness; Darwinian theories of evolution are a product of the "musty air" of English overpopulation; religious and moralistic perspectives are the post hoc rationalizations of the weak and the tame. In this episode we'll also discuss the very important section, "On the Genius of the Species", which treats consciousness as an organ of communication.

Episode art: The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Deijman by Rembrandt