The Social Animal: Evolution, Sociality, and Cognition
Instructors:
Katharine
Browne
(k.n.browne@csmn.uio.no)
(sebaswat@csmn.uio.no)
and
Sebastian
Watzl
Course Description:
In this course we will consider three different, but closely interconnected, angles on
the connection between the human mind, evolution and the social world. First, we
will consider issues surrounding the evolution of human sociality. We will address
the following questions: How can we explain the evolution of our social capacities?
How do we differ in these respects from other animals? Can evolutionary models
(and particularly, evolutionary game theoretic models) help us to better understand
the structure and origins of human morality? Second, we will consider the
significance of evolutionary considerations for the objectivity and normative status of
claims about morality, rationality and in epistemology: do facts about human
evolution confirm or undermine the objectivity of values, morality or knowledge?
What is the function of normative language and how is that function connected to our
social lives? Third, we ask about the relevance of social forces for the evolution of
cognition. Has intelligence evolved to deal with the complexities of the social world?
What is unique about human cognitive capacities and to what extent have they been
shaped by cooperative social interaction?
Required Texts:
Katz, L., ed. (2000) Evolutionary Origins of Morality, Imprint Academic
All other readings will be made available either online and/or for photo copying.
Evaluation:
As part of this course’s tuition activities, students will be required to complete a short
written piece, to be delivered as a 20-25 minute oral presentation, an oral response to
a peer’s presentation, and two drafts of a major essay. The final grade for the course
will be based on the final version of the essay. Regular class attendance and active
participation in discussion is also expected.
Deadlines to be announced.
discussed in class.
Specific expectations for each assignment will be
Reading Schedule
1.
Introduction and Background
Course Overview, Central Concepts in Evolutionary Biology. No Readings.
1 2. The Evolution of Altruism I: Classics
Axelrod, R. (1981). The Emergence of Cooperation Among Egoists. The American
Political Science Review 75: 306-318.
Trivers, R. L. (1971). The Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism. The Quarterly Review of
Biology 46 (1): 35-57.
Maynard Smith, J. (1976). Evolution and the Theory of Games: In situations
characterized by conflict of interest, the best strategy to adopt depends on what
others are doing. American Scientist, 64(1): 41-45.
Maynard Smith, J. (1964). Group selection and kin selection. Nature 201: 1145-1147.
3. The Evolution of Altruism II: New Developments
Sober, E. and Wilson, D. S. (1998). A Unified Evolutionary Theory of Social
Behavior, In: Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior,
Harvard University Press: 55-100.
West, S. A., Griffin, A. S., & Gardner, A. (2007). Social semantics: altruism,
cooperation, mutualism, strong reciprocity and group selection. Journal of
evolutionary biology, 20(2): 415-432.
Selected replies to Sober and Wilson, tbd.
4. Evolution and Fairness
Skyrms, B. (2000). Game Theory, Rationality, and Evolution of the Social Contract,
In: Evolutionary Origins of Morality (ed. L. Katz), Imprint Academic: 269-284.
Gintis, H. (2000). Classical versus Evolutionary Game Theory. In: Evolutionary
Origins of Morality (ed. L. Katz), Imprint Academic: 300-304.
D’Arms, J. (2000). When Evolutionary Game Theory Explains Morality, What Does
It Explain? In: Evolutionary Origins of Morality: 296-299.
Optional Readings:
Levy, A. (2011). Game Theory, Indirect Modeling, and the Origin of
Morality. Journal of Philosophy 108 (4):171-187.
5. Human Ultra-Sociality
Richerson, P. J. and Boyd, R. (1998). The Evolution of Human Ultra-Sociality. In:
Ideology, Warfare, and Indoctrinability (eds. I. Eibl-Eibisfeldt and F. Salter),
Berghahn Books: 71-95.
2 Bowles, S. and Gintis, H. (2003). Origins of Human Cooperation. In: Genetic and
Cultural Evolution of Cooperation (P. Hammerstein, ed.), The MIT Press: 429444.
West, S. A., El Mouden, C., & Gardner, A. (2011). Sixteen common misconceptions
about the evolution of cooperation in humans. Evolution and Human
Behavior, 32(4): 231-262.
6. “Morality” in non-human Animals
Silk, J. (2006) The Evolution of Cooperation in Primate Groups. In: Moral sentiments
and material interests: The foundations of cooperation in economic life (eds. H.
Gintis, S. Bowles, R. Boyd, and E. Fehr), The MIT Press: 43-74.
Flack, J.C. and de Waal, F.B.M. (2000). Any Animal Whatever: Darwinian Building
Blocks of Morality in Monkeys and Apes. In. Evolutionary Origins of Morality: 130.
Selected replies to Flack and de Waal, tbd.
7. Human Morality
Boehm, C. (2000). Conflict and the Evolution of Social Control. In: Evolutionary
Origins of Morality: 79-101.
Kitcher, P. (2006). Between Fragile Altruism and Morality: Evolution and the
Emergence of Normative Guidance. In: Evolutionary Ethics and Contemporary
Biology (Eds. G. Boniolo and G. De Anna), Cambridge University Press: 159-177.
Selected replies to Boehm, tbd.
8. Does Evolution Undermine Morality?
Joyce, R. (2006). The Evolution of Morality, Chs. 5+6 “The Evolutionary Vindication
of Morality” + “The Evolutionary Debunking of Morality”, Bradford: 143-220.
Street, S. (2006). A Darwinian dilemma for realist theories of value. Philosophical
Studies 127 (1):109-166.
9. Does Evolution Really Undermine Morality?
Schafer, K. (2010). Evolution and Normative Scepticism. Australasian Journal of
Philosophy 88 (3):471-488.
Kahane, G. (2011). Evolutionary Debunking Arguments. Noûs 45 (1):103-125.
Optional Readings:
Rachels, S., and Alter, T. (2005). Nothing Matters in Survival. The Journal of
Ethics, 9(3-4): 311-330.
3 10.
Social Origins of Normativity?
Gibbard, A. (1990), Wise Choices, Apt Feelings. A Theory of Normative Judgment,
Part I (excerpts), Clarendon.
Dogramaci, S. (2012). Reverse Engineering Epistemic Evaluations. Philosophy and
Phenomenological Research 84 (3): 513-530.
Dutilh Novaes, C. (forthcoming) A dialogical account of deductive reasoning as a
case study for how culture shapes cognition, Journal of Cognition and Culture.
11.
The Social Intelligence Hypothesis
Humphrey, N. (1976). The social function of intellect. In: Growing points in ethology
(eds P. P. G. Bateson & R. A. Hinde), Cambridge University Press: 303–317.
Dunbar (2003). The social brain: mind, language and society in evolutionary
perspective. Ann. Rev. Anthrop. 32: 163-181.
Byrne, R. and Whiten, A. (1997). Machiavellian intelligence, In: Machiavellian
Intelligence II: Extensions and Evaluations (eds. R. Byrne and A. Whiten),
Cambridge University Press: 1-24.
12.
The Evolution of Human Cognition
Sterelny, Kim (2003). Thought in a Hostile World. Part II “Not Just Another Species
of Large Mammal”, Blackwell: 97-174.
Optional Reading:
Mercier, H., & Sperber, D. (2011). Why do humans reason? Arguments for an
argumentative theory. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 34(2): 57-74.
13.
The Cooperative Origins of Human Cognition
Moll, H., and Tomasello, M. (2007). Co-operation and human cognition: The
Vygotskian intelligence hypothesis. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal
Society 362: 639-648.
Excerpts from: Tomasello, M. (in press). A Natural History of Human Thinking.
Harvard University Press.
4