Against Moral Hard-Wiring
摘要
A first objection to the hard-wiring thesis stems from a general skepticism towards the explanatory power of methods and hypotheses of evolutionary psychology (EP). Specifically, some perplexities are addressed to the reliability of EP’s theoretical tools in understanding social and moral cognition in ecological, material, structural, and epistemic conditions which radically differ from the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness (EEA), i.e., the late Pleistocene. A comprehensive critique of EP lies, however, beyond the scope of this work.1 I will thus limit my considerations to the idea that human moral and prosocial cognition and behavior could be understood and explained through the core methodologies, assumptions, and theoretical claims of classic EP.