Human Nature in a Post-essentialist World

Philosophy of Science 80 (5):983-993 (2013)
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Abstract

In this essay I examine a well-known articulation of human nature skepticism, a paper by Hull. I then review a recent reply to Hull by Machery, which argues for an account of human nature that he claims is both useful and scientifically robust. I challenge Machery’s account and introduce an alternative account—the “life-history trait cluster” conception of human nature—that I hold is scientifically sound and makes sense of our intuitions about—and desiderata for—human nature.

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References found in this work

Counterfactuals.David Lewis - 1973 - Foundations of Language 13 (1):145-151.
Homeostasis, species, and higher taxa.Richard Boyd - 1999 - In Robert Andrew Wilson (ed.), Species: New Interdisciplinary Essays. MIT Press. pp. 141-85.
On Human Nature.David L. Hull - 1986 - PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1986:3-13.
A plea for human nature.Edouard Machery - 2008 - Philosophical Psychology 21 (3):321 – 329.

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