Abstract
Abstract. Evolutionary psychology and behavioural genomics are both approaches to
explain human behaviour from a genetic point of view. Nonetheless, thus far the development
of these disciplines is anything but interdependent. This paper examines the question
whether evolutionary psychology can contribute to behavioural genomics. Firstly, a possible
inconsistency between the two approaches is reviewed, viz. that evolutionary psychology
focuses on the universal human nature and disregards the genetic variation studied by
behavioural genomics. Secondly, we will discuss the structure of biological explanations.
Some philosophers rightly acknowledge that explanations do not involve laws which are
exceptionless and universal. Instead, generalisations that are invariant suffice for successful
explanation as long as two other stipulations are recognised: the domain within which the
generalisation has no exceptions as well as the distribution of the mechanism described by
the generalisation should both be specified. It is argued that evolutionary psychology can
contribute to behavioural genomic explanations by accounting for these two specifications.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 57-78 |
Number of pages | 22 |
Journal | Biology & Philosophy |
Volume | 20 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jan 2005 |
Keywords
- adaptationism
- behavioural genomics
- evolutionary psychology
- explanantion
- generalisation
- human behaviour
- invariance
- universality