Research Catalog

Title

On our minds : how evolutionary psychology is reshaping the nature-versus-nurture debate / Eric M. Gander.

Author

Gander, Eric.

Publication

Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, [2003], ©2003.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

x, 293 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

"In On Our Minds, Eric M. Gander examines all sides of the public debate between evolutionary psychologists and their critics. Paying particularly close attention to the popular science writings of Steven Pinker, Edward O. Wilson, Richard Dawkins, and Stephen Jay Gould, Gander traces the history of the controversy, succinctly summarizes the claims and theories of the evolutionary psychologists, dissects the various arguments deployed by each side, and considers in detail the far-reaching ramifications - social, cultural, and political - of this debate. Gander's lucid and highly readable account concludes that evolutionary psychology now holds the potential to answer our oldest and most profound moral and philosophical questions, fundamentally changing our self-perception as a species."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject

Evolutionary psychology

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Introduction: "This Changes Everything" -- Ch. 1. Stephen Jay Gould Historicizes Science -- Ch. 2. Richard Herrnstein Stirs Up Controversy at Harvard Yard -- Ch. 3. Edward O. Wilson Brings More Controversy to the Yard -- Ch. 4. Richard Lewontin and His Colleagues Demur -- Ch. 5. Nature's "Very Special Way" -- Ch. 6. What Is the Mind? -- Ch. 7. The Challenges of Reverse Engineering -- Ch. 8. The Benefits of Hardwiring -- Ch. 9. What Cultures Can the Mind Run? -- Ch. 10. The Evolutionary Psychology of "Little House on the Prairie" -- Conclusion: Brave New World Revisited-Again -- Afterword: Writing on The Blank Slate.

ISBN

0801873878 (hardcover : alk. paper)

LCCN

2002152158

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries