(I just received your message of 7 April.)
Keith Henson wrote
The model of evolutionary psychology ... is that any observed
feature in a species is either the direct result of the feature
being selected or it is a side effect of some feature that was
selected.
Yes, I understand. But the question is why choose evolutionary
psychology over some other kind of explanatory world view. If you
cannot prove that the observed feature is indeed a result or side
effect, what good is the model?
So the capacity for individuals to amplify xenophobic memes in
some circumstances (which we know happens) is one other the other.
No, it only is one or the other if we already think that way. Maybe
the xenophobic memes originate somewhere else.
Because such memes serve the function of synchronizing the
warriors of a tribe to attack another tribe as a group ....
Right. But based on this statement you could argue that the memes are
the result of cultural learning -- after all, those cultures which
have them better are the ones that survived....
... This would be supported as direct selection if ...
No, it would not! It would only show that such memes help a culture.
>The question is which explanation is better?
I don't understand the point you are trying to make here.
The question is:
Can someone better explain xenophobic memes using cultural
anthropology or evolutionary psychology?
What about another hypothesis: that spies (for our side) are better
tolerated during bad times than good times? Is that hypothesis
better explained (or better attacked) using cultural anthropology or
evolutionary psychology?
>I know the goal; my question is not about the goal, but whether
>evolutionary psychology is providing a good explanation, or whether it
>is hokum?
" . . . evolutionary psychology . . . . is a way of thinking about
psychology that can be applied to any topic within it.
In this view, the mind is a set of information-processing machines that
were designed by natural selection to solve adaptive problems faced by our
hunter-gatherer ancestors. This way of thinking about the brain, mind, and
behaviour is changing how scientists approach old topics, and opening up
new ones."
This quotation tells us about evolutionary psychology; it does not
tell us whether it is any good or not. Why choose evolutionary
psychology over another explanatory discipline, such as cultural
anthropology? That is the question.
--
Robert J. Chassell Rattlesnake Enterprises
As I slowly update it, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I rewrite a "What's New" segment for http://www.rattlesnake.com
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