A plea for human nature

Philosophical Psychology 21 (3):321 – 329 (2008)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Philosophers of biology, such as David Hull and Michael Ghiselin, have argued that the notion of human nature is incompatible with modern evolutionary biology and they have recommended rejecting this notion. In this article, I rebut this argument: I show that an important notion of human nature is compatible with modern evolutionary biology.

Categories

Keywords

Reprint years

DOI

10.1080/09515080802170119

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 91,202

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

My notes

Similar books and articles

Interactionism and innateness in the evolutionary study of human nature.Christopher D. Horvath - 2000 - Biology and Philosophy 15 (3):321-337.
Marxism and human sociobiology: A comparative study from the perspective of modern socialist economic reforms. [REVIEW]Zhang Boshu - 1987 - Biology and Philosophy 2 (4):463-474.
Human nature: An oxymoron?David Heyd - 2003 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 28 (2):151 – 169.
Biological thinking in evolutionary psychology: Rockbottom or quicksand?H. Looren De Jong & W. J. Van Der Steen - 1998 - Philosophical Psychology 11 (2):183 – 205.
The comparative biology of human nature.Jason Scott Robert - 2008 - Philosophical Psychology 21 (3):425 – 436.
The philosophy of biology.David L. Hull & Michael Ruse (eds.) - 1973 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Discovery and confirmation in evolutionary psychology.Edouard Machery - unknown - In Jesse J. Prinz (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Psychology. Oxford University Press.
The evolution of a human nature.Thomas Rhys Williams - 1959 - Philosophy of Science 26 (1):1-13.
No norms and no nature — the moral relevance of evolutionary biology.Bart Voorzanger - 1987 - Biology and Philosophy 2 (3):253-270.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
243 (#79,431)

6 months
6 (#431,022)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Edouard Machery
University of Pittsburgh

Citations of this work

Basic Equality.Paul Sagar - 2024 - Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Human Nature: The Very Idea.Tim Lewens - 2012 - Philosophy and Technology 25 (4):459-474.
Human Nature in a Post-essentialist World.Grant Ramsey - 2013 - Philosophy of Science 80 (5):983-993.
Evolutionary Psychology.Stephen M. Downes - 2016 - In Lee C. McIntyre & Alexander Rosenberg (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Social Science. New York: Routledge. pp. 330-339.
Cognitive Variation: The Philosophical Landscape.Zina B. Ward - 2022 - Philosophy Compass 17 (10):e12882.

View all 41 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

The philosophical writings of Descartes.René Descartes - 1984 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
Evolution, population thinking, and essentialism.Elliott Sober - 1980 - Philosophy of Science 47 (3):350-383.
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature.Steven Pinker - 2002 - Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 66 (4):765-767.

View all 12 references / Add more references