X-Message-Number: 23347
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 09:30:33 -0500 (EST)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: nurturists

> Message #23343
> Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 13:22:04 +0100
> Subject: Evolutionary psychology is in fashion-but is any
> of it true?
> From: David Stodolsky
>
> http://www.bostonreview.net/BR23.2/berwick.html

Thanks for pointing us to this fine example of ritual
sneering by the nurturists, David. It is quite amusing. Only
two problems:

1. Contrary to the title, evolutionary psychology is not in
fashion. A few Google searches reveal countless college
courses taught by socialistically inclined professors who
refuse to believe that human behavior is primarily inherited,
apparently because they dislike the political implications
(e.g. we are not all equal after all). Academics are busily
inculcating hapless students with ideologically slanted
"social science" on a daily basis.

2. Complaints that evolutionary psychology is unproven are of
course easy to make, because absolute proof cannot exist; we
have only (rather a lot of) circumstantial evidence. On the
other hand, the nurturists don't have any proof either, and
in the long example of ritual sneering that you cite, the
writer doesn't attempt to justify bias or even admit that it
exists. Thus the whole exercise is totally pointless.

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