What do Evolutionary Explanations of Human Behavior Tell Us?

Subrena E Smith

Department of Philosophy, University of New Hampshire, USA

Subrena.Smith@unh.edu

Explanations aim to illuminate targeted phenomena. Though they can and sometimes do fail, illumination: clarity, understandability, and knowledge are their mandate. Human behavior, in the general and particular instances, are targets of explanations. They aim to provide the sorts of knowledge that will help us orient ourselves (cognitively and otherwise) to behaviors. We know that human behavior is constituted by the many different ways that human beings “move” themselves. What kinds of explanations best illuminate them? Some frameworks claim that evolutionary accounts illuminate at least some of our behaviors. My aim in this talk is to cast light on, and to specify what is at stake in these evolutionary approaches.

Recent publications:

“Organisms as persisters,” Philosophy, Theory ,and Practice, 9 (14), (2017).

“Is evolutionary psychology possible?” Biological Theory, 15: 39-49 (2020).

“Purposes, parts, and persons,” Journal of Philosophical Research, 45: 1-13 (2020).