Title

The Darwinian Cage: Evolutionary Psychology as Moral Science

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2008

Abstract

The jargon of evolutionary psychology has recently migrated from a few minor American universities into the academic mainstream and thence into Sunday supplements and dinner party conversations. It has even formed the backdrop to at least one award-winning novel (McEwan, 1997). Evolutionary psychology and other similar ‘biological’ explanations of human conduct pervade the Zeitgeist and, as Kenan Malik has persuasively argued, they tap into a prevailing mood of cultural pessimism. Evolutionary psychology, it seems, speaks to our desire to see the worst in ourselves (Malik, 2002).

Richard Hamilton, 'The Darwinian Cage: Evolutionary Psychology as Moral Science', Theory Culture and Society Vol. 25(2), London, Sage Publications, p. 105-125, 2008.

ISSN: 0263-2764