fodor’s granny: against darwinism and evolutionary psychology
Jerry Fodor, always a delight to read, addresses why’s he’s against darwinism and evolutionary psychology (pdf). Even “Granny” makes a re-appearance. (Here’s a great opening paragraph, jstor gated — “Granny and I think that things have gone too far…” More on Fodor’s Granny here, by Daniel Dennett.)
Very Cool! I can’t stop reading this stuff….I almost went to grad school in philosophy to study with Fodor….
sherkat
July 17, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Good stuff, agreed. I enjoy the analytical specificity with which subjects get wrestled with in philosophy.
tf
July 17, 2009 at 5:24 pm
As always, be sure to read Daniel Dennett’s rebuttal as well…
http://scienceblogs.com/omnibrain/upload/2007/03/fodorondarwinism3b.pdf
Henrik Berglund
July 18, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Fodor seems to be attacking all theorizing based on natural selection, not just evolutionary psychology. He seems to do a better job of making philosophy seem detached and clueless about scientific issues than he does of his critique.
Thorstein Veblen
July 20, 2009 at 3:20 am
I’m sorry, you don’t speak my language. I am totally unable to tell whether you are deeply immersed in the vocabulary of a complex subfield (philosophy, it looks like) or just an idiot with nothing to say. Anyway, I hope you write this up in plainer language sometime and I get to read it.
Noumenon
July 30, 2009 at 12:51 pm
[...] that it identifies ADHD cases associated with greater life problems. Addendum: Jerry Fodor has a recent paper challenging common applications of evolutionary psychology; Razib defends Darwin. VN:F [...]
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July 30, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Er, that comment was directed at Fodor, not this blog (don’t know why the link didn’t go straight to the PDF then). Anyway I like Daniel Dennett’s takedown much better because he reassures me that Fodor didn’t have anything to say and that’s why I couldn’t understand it.
Noumenon
July 30, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Noumenon,
You sound like an absolute fool.
John
July 30, 2009 at 7:50 pm
[...] Jerry Fodor has a recent paper challenging common applications of evolutionary psychology; Razib defends [...]
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July 31, 2009 at 1:08 am
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