Evolutionary Theory and Human Nature
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Overview
Evolutionary Theory and Human Nature is an original, highly theoretical work dealing with the transition from genes to behavior using general principles of evolution, especially those of sexual selection. It seeks to develop a seamless transition from genes to human motivations as bio-electric brain processes (emotional-cognitive processes), to human nature propensities (various constellations of emotional-cognitive forces, desires and fears) to species typical patterns of behavior. This work covers two often antagonistic fields: biology and the social sciences. It should be of strong interest to anthropologists, sociologists, sociobiologists, psychobiologists and psychologists who are interested in the question of human nature influences on social behavior.
Synopsis
Soon after reason began to worship itself in the glow of the Enlightenment, says Vannelli (U. of Central England, Birmingham), it began to deify itself, became dissatisfied with its limitations, and transmuted into Rationality, which kills the very essence of humanness. The version of human nature he presents is not a deterministic one, nor a rational one capable of continually learning and perfecting itself, nor one with a mission or known direction. Rather it represents the dynamic processes in which typical emotions and reason struggle with each other, and are the product of natural and sexual selection. There is, he declares, no grand design.
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