Some of you might be interested by Kim Sterelny’s essay on the evolution of humans and by the commentaries on his essay (C. Driscoll, P.S. Davies, mine, etc.). It’s a good summary of Kim’s views. The symposium is organized by C. Driscoll on the forum On the Human.
Edouard
Thanks for advertising this. I didn’t see your commentary on the web-site (though the others were there).
piffle. a more facile setting up and knocking down of strawmen would be hard to imagine, neither the setup or the knockdown supported by more than hand-waving.
Tad,
Yes, it takes a lot of time for the moderators to publish my commentary. Perhaps one day, they’ll put it up!
Joshua
I agree that Kim is a bit fighting a strawman in this post (I insist on this in the commentary), but keep in mind that this is just a summary of his much more detailed, forthcoming book (based on his Jean Nicod lectures),
E
I found virtually nothing to agree with pro or con. The idea that human evolution is self-driven, I’m sure I could take issue with in detail if it were presented in detail. What could such a claim possibly mean, and how could it possibly be true? The idea that human cognitive competencies “have a high information load” sounds tautological, but the real fault with it is likely that it is false. You want information load, try processing visual information the way an eagle does, or even a fruit fly does. That John can guess that Jane wants new shoes doesn’t actually have much content at all.