ISBN : 9780198823650
This interdisciplinary collection of new essays from leading researchers offers an overview of the current state of the debate on human nature, and develops new positions and discussions in that debate. It features contributions from leading figures in the life sciences, philosophy, psychology, and anthropology. Is human nature something that the natural and social sciences aim to describe, or is it a pernicious fiction? What role, if any, does human nature play in directing and informing scientific work? Can we talk about human nature without invoking-either implicitly or explicitly-a contrast with human culture? What is the historical context of this debate and is resolution likely or even possible?
Introduction: The Faces of Human Nature
1 Edouard Machery: Doubling Down on the Nomological Notion of Human Nature
2 Grant Ramsey: Trait Bin and Trait Cluster Accounts of Human Nature
3 Karola Stotz and Paul Griffiths: A Developmental Systems Account of Human Nature
4 Cecilia Heyes: Human Nature and Natural Pedagogy
5 John Dupre: Human Nature: A Process Perspective
6 Kim Sterelny: Sceptical Reflections on Human Nature
7 Kevin N. Laland and Gillian R. Brown: The Social Construction of Human Nature
8 Peter J. Richerson: The Use and Non-use of the Human Nature Concept by Evolutionary Biologists
9 Christina Toren: Human Ontogenies as Historical Processes: An Anthropological Perspective
10 Maria Kronfeldner: Divide and Conquer: The Authority of Nature and Why We Disagree about Human Nature