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Bodies and Minds: Dualism in Evolutionary Theory
Author(s) -
Oyama Susan
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1991.tb01821.x
Subject(s) - nature versus nurture , parallels , dualism , perspective (graphical) , relevance (law) , epistemology , evolutionary theory , diathesis , cognitive science , human body , psychology , sociology , computer science , philosophy , biology , political science , mechanical engineering , engineering , artificial intelligence , anthropology , law , immunology
As more social scientists adopt an evolutionary perspective, it becomes increasingly important to reflect upon the relevance of evolutionary theory to human behavior. The distinction between biologically based “nature” and environmental “nurture,” however, continues to create conceptual difficulties. One problem is that “nature” tends to be associated with the body, so that the innate‐acquired distinction partially parallels the one between the body and the mind. A brief exploration of this parallel is followed by a discussion of the assumptions that biological nature is intractable and fundamentally selfish. These assumptions raise particular concerns when human nature is at issue, for such ideas about biological nature are incorporated into our deepest beliefs about what it is to be human and what a human society must be like.