Smith, David Livingstone 1953–

(David L. Smith)

PERSONAL:

Born in New York, NY, 1953; married, wife's name Subrena. Education: Antioch University, M.A.; Kings College London, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Portland, ME. Office—Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of New England, Biddeford, ME 04005.

CAREER:

Antioch Center for British Studies, London, England, lecturer in psychology; Regent's College London, London, England, interim dean and director of graduate programs; University of New England, Portland, ME, associate professor of philosophy, and founding director of New England Institute for Cognitive Science and Evolutionary Psychology. Visiting professor at University of London, Middlesex University, Surrey University, and Ithaca College. Psychotherapist; clinical director of Kids Company.

MEMBER:

International Society for the History, American Philosophical Association, Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology.

WRITINGS:

Hidden Conversations: An Introduction to Communicative Psychoanalysis, Routledge (New York, NY), 1991, 2nd edition, Karnac (London, England), 1999.

(As David L. Smith) Approaching Psychoanalysis, Karnac Books (London, England), 1999.

Freud's Philosophy of the Unconscious, Kluwer Academic Publishers (Boston, MA), 1999.

Psychoanalysis in Focus, Sage Publications (Thousand Oaks, CA), 2003.

Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2004.

The Most Dangerous Animal: Human Nature and the Origins of War, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2007.

Member of editorial boards, including Evolutionary Psychology, Psychonalytische Perspectieven, Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology, and British Journal of Psychotherapy.

SIDELIGHTS:

Philosopher and educator David Livingstone Smith is the founding director of the New England Institute for Cognitive Science and Evolutionary Psychology at the University of New England. In his 2004 work Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind, Smith "speculates that deception developed as an adaptive mechanism to ensure our survival and reproductive success," remarked Library Journal critic Laurie Bartolini. Smith demonstrates that plants and animals successfully use deception as an evolutionary mechanism, argues that human beings benefit from both self-deception and social manipulation, and suggests that contemporary societal structures influence deceptive behavior. According to Los Angeles City Beat contributor Ezrha Jean Black, "Smith is concerned with the mental apparatus of deception and self-deception as it has evolved in Homo sapiens, how it operates across a social dynamic, and how it seems to have broken down as the size and complexity of human societies have outstripped its capacity for correction." Smith told Vadim Liberman in an Across the Board interview: "We spent most of our time as a species living in small communities where the system of personal relationships … really was a powerful constraint on lying. If you were caught lying, your reputation was shot or you were banished from the community. It's easier to avoid that sort of consequence in the mass, anonymous society we have today." In a Booklist review of Why We Lie, Donna Seaman noted that "Smith's inquiry is stimulating and unsettling," and a Kirkus Reviews critic deemed the work "deliciously tantalizing, with morality as the Grandest Deceit of them all."

In The Most Dangerous Animal: Human Nature and the Origins of War, Smith examines war through the lens of evolutionary psychology. Smith begins by tracing a connection between the hunting parties that chimpanzees form and the likelihood that early humans did the same. From there, territorial instincts kicked in, and early humans recognized that killing neighboring groups increased their access to additional resources. Smith then posits that, as developing humans began to think of other members of their species as just that (i.e. the same), the urge to kill was somewhat mitigated. Thus in order to fuel warfare, humans had to believe that their opponents were somehow less than human. This belief lies at the bottom of racism and stereotyping. According to Smith, these tactics can even be seen in war propaganda from ancient civilizations. Critics found the book to be a fascinating read. "The best hope of stopping war, avers the author, is ending the self-deception that allows us to see others as not human," a Kirkus Reviews critic stated. Calling the volume "crisp and sobering," a Publishers Weekly contributor found that "from its opening sentence, Smith's book demands the reader's attention." Another laudatory assessment was given by Boston Globe writer Abram Bergen, who stated: "The light this book sheds on human nature, both on our warlike nature and on our natural repulsion to war, makes The Most Dangerous Animal a very relevant and important read."

In response to questions from CA, Smith said that he had always found writing "intrinsically pleasurable," and that his "most important influences" were "probably Charles Darwin, Mark Twain, David Hume, and Sigmund Freud." Smith also described himself as surprised that "there are some people interested in what I have to say."

Describing his writing process, Smith commented: "I am not the sort of person who has his ideas sorted out before committing them to paper. Writing is a form of thinking for me: I work things out as I go along. My writing is an intensely private process, and I rarely discuss work in progress with anyone other than my wife, Subrena. The best piece of stylistic advice that I have ever come across is H.L. Mencken's admonition to ‘murder your darlings’—to ruthlessly excise extraneous material. I therefore spend a lot of time revising my work, trying to extract maximum content out of minimum word quantity."

Smith went on to describe the intended effect of his books: "Although I am a philosopher, I am not especially interested in the sorts of abstract, conceptual problems that typically preoccupy philosophers. Solving the most pressing problems confronting our species requires us to understand the deep dynamics of human nature, and I hope that my writings will contribute to this understanding in ways that make a practical difference to the amelioration of human suffering."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Across the Board, September-October, 2004, Vadim Liberman, "David Livingstone Smith Is a Liar," interview, p. 13.

Booklist, July, 2004, Donna Seaman, review of Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind, p. 1802.

Boston Globe, August 5, 2007, Nancy Heiser, "Evolved for War"; September 19, 2007, Abram Bergen, review of The Most Dangerous Animal: Human Nature and the Origins of War.

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2004, review of Why We Lie, p. 434; July 1, 2007, review of The Most Dangerous Animal.

Library Journal, July, 2004, Laurie Bartolini, review of Why We Lie, p. 114.

Psychology Today, July-August, 2004, review of Why We Lie, p. 34.

Publishers Weekly, April 9, 2007, review of The Most Dangerous Animal, p. 39.

ONLINE

David Livingstone Smith Home Page,http://realhumannature.com (June 10, 2008).

Los Angeles City Beat,http://www.lacitybeat.com/ (November 18, 2004), Ezrha Jean Black, "David Livingstone Smith: The Author of Why We Lie on Homo Mendax and the Culture of Deceit," interview.

University of New England, New England Institute Web site,http://www.une.edu/nei/ (February 25, 2005), "David Livingstone Smith."