The Wheatley Institute and the BYU College of Life Sciences hosted Dr. Samuel T. Wilkinson from Yale for a speaking event on Thursday, Oct. 17.
Wilkinson is an accomplished professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. He primarily focuses on depression and suicide prevention in his research and has had several academic awards for his work. He has also received awards for his writing.
The lecture focused on the topics in Wilkinson’s recently published book titled, “Purpose: What Evolution and Human Nature Imply About the Meaning of Our Existence.”
The event began with opening remarks by Paul S. Edwards, director of the Wheatley Institute, and an introduction by Dr. Laura Bridgewater, dean of the College of Life Sciences. Wilkinson then began his remarks by giving some context as to why he decided to write his book.
“It quickly became apparent to me, as I enrolled in med school, that it was not the same environment that I experienced here at BYU. I felt a little out of place as a disciple in the academy. I felt that what I was learning in the classroom was at odds with what I had been learning in church,” Wilkinson said.
This was especially true with questions of evolution and human nature. Wilkinson shared that at the time that he was studying, common beliefs were that life came about randomly, and people are inherently selfish.
In order to combat this theology, Wilkinson came up with a new framework that he discussed in his lecture to view evolution and human nature. He shared that he believes that, evolutionarily, people have potential to either be selfish or be altruistic.
Wilkinson combined this “dual potential of human nature” with the idea of free will and posed that our purpose is to choose between our selfish and altruistic natures.
Wilkinson focused heavily on how to help men choose their altruistic natures, showing evidence that men who focus on connecting to their families and being good fathers are more socially productive.
This tendency, Wilkinson believes, is evolutionary evidence supporting the institution of marriage and the importance of fatherhood in society.
The lecture was followed by a question-and-answer session, where the audience was able to submit questions that were answered by Edwards and Bridgewater.
One anonymous student asked, "If the journey of discipleship is about choosing good within oneself, what tools would you offer to avoid falling into unhealthy perfectionism and self-criticism?”
Wilkinson responded by encouraging the student to explore cognitive behavioral therapy and similar techniques.
Students came away from the lecture with new perspectives on evolution and human nature.
“I feel like that is really consistent with gospel principles, that we’re getting to choose to become more like Christ or becoming more selfish,” Rebecca Gearhart, a lecture attendee, said.
Another student, Joshua Bailey, shared that his biggest takeaway was “the importance of the family unit and how it still applies to evolutionary ideas.”
“The way that you actually connect with your family members trains you to be a member of your society,” Anna Banks, a student studying psychology, said.
She added that "evolution lines up religiously, you just have to look at it in the right way.”
“We talk about the natural man, you know, and fighting the natural man, but part of your natural man is being good, so I think it’s finding the good parts of yourself that already exist,” Annie Wells, another psychology major, said.