01:185:253 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Coevolution, Richard Dawkins, Lactose Intolerance

• School: Rutgers University
• Department: Cognitive Science
• Course: 01:185:253
• Professor: Stephen Stich

Document Summary

Anatomical identical features b/w all people (heart, lungs, kidneys) It"s more plausible to say that something is part of human nature if all normal humans have it. Sometimes normal means average/ordinary/ what"s true of most people- not what it means here. B/c hypothetically, if there was a lung cancer epidemic, 80% of people would have a lung removed, now it would not be the case that having one lung is part of human nature. In human nature, normal can mean: normal features are those that people were designed to have (we were designed to have 2 lungs) Some versions of the claim that god did the designing are incompatible with contemporary biology. (there may be other versions of the god did the designing view that are not incompatible with modern biology) *understanding how human nature and human diversity were shaped by natural selection and by other factors, including cultural evolution*