Kim Sterelny
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691195902
- eISBN:
- 9781400888528
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691195902.003.0005
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter looks at how philosopher Kim Sterelny endorses the main contours of Robert Boyd's argument that humans are outliers in their capacity to adapt to many environments. However, Sterelny ...
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This chapter looks at how philosopher Kim Sterelny endorses the main contours of Robert Boyd's argument that humans are outliers in their capacity to adapt to many environments. However, Sterelny asks whether Boyd goes too far in reducing the role of “our distinctive human intelligence” in explaining humans' ecological adaptability. Sterelny at least partly defends the “library” or “Big Brain” model that Boyd argues against. Tacit, practical know-how is a form of knowledge. In addition, Sterelny contends that Boyd relies too heavily on a simple and “conformist” or “trusting social learning heuristic.” As a final point, Sterelny wonders whether and how social learning has changed across “domains and across time.”Less
This chapter looks at how philosopher Kim Sterelny endorses the main contours of Robert Boyd's argument that humans are outliers in their capacity to adapt to many environments. However, Sterelny asks whether Boyd goes too far in reducing the role of “our distinctive human intelligence” in explaining humans' ecological adaptability. Sterelny at least partly defends the “library” or “Big Brain” model that Boyd argues against. Tacit, practical know-how is a form of knowledge. In addition, Sterelny contends that Boyd relies too heavily on a simple and “conformist” or “trusting social learning heuristic.” As a final point, Sterelny wonders whether and how social learning has changed across “domains and across time.”
