timtyler comments on Problems in evolutionary psychology - Less Wrong

55 Post author: Kaj_Sotala 13 August 2010 06:57PM

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Comment author: timtyler 14 August 2010 08:09:29AM *  0 points [-]

Amazon's summary has:

Buller argues that our minds are not adapted to the Pleistocene, but, like the immune system, are continually adapting, over both evolutionary time and individual lifetimes. We must move beyond the reigning orthodoxy of evolutionary psychology to reach an accurate understanding of how human psychology is influenced by evolution. When we do, Buller claims, we will abandon not only the quest for human nature but the very idea of human nature itself.

IMO, that does an excellent job of making the author sound clueless.

Comment author: Perplexed 15 August 2010 12:26:38AM 1 point [-]

I personally have nothing against the term "Human Nature". But I think it is easy to reconstruct Buller's meaning here. Our "nature" has clearly evolved; evolution takes place (in part) as a result of variation in a population; evolution of our "nature" is still taking place; hence there is still variation in the "nature" of the human population; hence the whole concept that the species has an essential "Human Nature" is flawed. We are diverse.

I'm not sure I would want to call that kind of word chopping "clueless". But I would point out that the diversity in human nature is the result of the last 150,000 years or so of our evolution, whereas our shared evolutionary history (creating an "essence" of human nature) spans a period roughly 40 times as long.

Comment author: timtyler 15 August 2010 07:16:59AM *  0 points [-]

It reminds me of those who argue against:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_intelligence_factor

...on the grounds that intelligence is composed of many diverse abilities.

Someone making such a complaint about the term "Human Nature" simply hasn't bothered to understand what the term is intended to refer to.