Does Evolutionary Psychology Show That Normativity Is Mind–Dependent? (2014) [pdf]

philpapers.org

24 points·lainon··4 comments

Note that evolutionary psychology, which theorizes that human behavior is genetic and controlled by largely genetic forces, is highly controversial in of itself for being excessively reductionist and prescriptivist in its research. I would recommend reading a few of the outlined common criticisms and then looking at the paper with more context as to what it may be exploring here. A simple summary of some things:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_evolutionary_ps...

"Note that evolutionary psychology, which theorizes that human behavior is genetic and controlled by largely genetic forces, is highly controversial in of itself"

If 'human behaviour' hasn't evolved along with homo sapiens then what do you propose as the source, and if you invoke some non-corporeal entity then please get thee to a pulpit :)

Emergent behavior from societal stimulus? In reality it's probably some combination of the two, plus some deliberate decision making.

I think human behavior is more nurture than nature, especially so considering that human culture changes much faster than the timeline of evolution normally does, and to ascribe the traits of one culture to inherent human fundamentals(as evolutionary psychology has been criticized of doing) is so Eurocentric as to imply that there is only one way to be a human being.

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