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Revisiting Evolutionary Naturalism: Challenging Misconceptions and Embracing Interactionism
Abstract
The study aims to illuminate the fallacious misconceptions regarding evolutionary naturalism, which often reduce it to strict fatalist naturalism, while also defending an interactionist perspective between nature and nurture in explaining social and individual traits. To achieve this goal, the study is divided into two sections. The first section offers a brief overview of evolutionary naturalism and nurturism, illustrating their biased interpretations as well as the erroneous philosophical, ethical, and political implications they allegedly entail. By clarifying the fundamental tenets of evolutionary naturalism and distinguishing it from sociobiology, the second section argues that evolutionary naturalism, as an interactionist approach, offers incomplete yet superior explanations for highly complex traits such as cultural, legislative, and ethical ones. To support this argument, the second section exposes several fallacies and misconceptions surrounding evolutionary naturalism, which often lead to overlooking its interactionist dimension. These fallacies include the fallacy of genetic causation, the fallacy of genetic sufficiency, and the fallacy of genetic necessity. It is concluded that, rather than adhering to creationist naturalism, sociobiology, strict naturalism, or nurturism, embracing evolutionary and interactionist naturalism provides better insights into investigating the origins of such complex traits.
Keywords
References
- Buss, David M. Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of The Mind (3rd ed.). Boston and New York: Pearson, 2008.
- Darwin, Charles. The Origin of Species. London: William Collins, 2011.
- Davis, Bernard D. “Social Determinism and Behavioral Genetics,” Science 189, no. 4208 (1975): 1049-1049.
- De Waal, Frans. Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals (7th printing). Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003.
- Dennett, Daniel C. From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Mind. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2017.
- Driscoll, Marsha., Elizabeth E. Dunn, Dann Siems and B. Kamran Swanson. Charles Darwin, the Copley Medal, and the Rise of Naturalism, 1861-1864. United States: University of North Carolina Press, 2022.
- Locke, J. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1947.
- Pinker, Steven. The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. New York: Penguin Books, 2003.
Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
Philosophy of Science
Journal Section
Research Article
Authors
Publication Date
June 3, 2024
Submission Date
April 19, 2024
Acceptance Date
May 21, 2024
Published in Issue
Year 2024 Number: 21
APA
Birgül, O. G. (2024). Revisiting Evolutionary Naturalism: Challenging Misconceptions and Embracing Interactionism. Temaşa Erciyes Üniversitesi Felsefe Bölümü Dergisi, 21, 218-228. https://doi.org/10.55256/temasa.1470742
AMA
1.Birgül OG. Revisiting Evolutionary Naturalism: Challenging Misconceptions and Embracing Interactionism. Temasa Journal of Philosophy. 2024;(21):218-228. doi:10.55256/temasa.1470742
Chicago
Birgül, Osman Gazi. 2024. “Revisiting Evolutionary Naturalism: Challenging Misconceptions and Embracing Interactionism”. Temaşa Erciyes Üniversitesi Felsefe Bölümü Dergisi, nos. 21: 218-28. https://doi.org/10.55256/temasa.1470742.
EndNote
Birgül OG (June 1, 2024) Revisiting Evolutionary Naturalism: Challenging Misconceptions and Embracing Interactionism. Temaşa Erciyes Üniversitesi Felsefe Bölümü Dergisi 21 218–228.
IEEE
[1]O. G. Birgül, “Revisiting Evolutionary Naturalism: Challenging Misconceptions and Embracing Interactionism”, Temasa Journal of Philosophy, no. 21, pp. 218–228, June 2024, doi: 10.55256/temasa.1470742.
ISNAD
Birgül, Osman Gazi. “Revisiting Evolutionary Naturalism: Challenging Misconceptions and Embracing Interactionism”. Temaşa Erciyes Üniversitesi Felsefe Bölümü Dergisi. 21 (June 1, 2024): 218-228. https://doi.org/10.55256/temasa.1470742.
JAMA
1.Birgül OG. Revisiting Evolutionary Naturalism: Challenging Misconceptions and Embracing Interactionism. Temasa Journal of Philosophy. 2024;:218–228.
MLA
Birgül, Osman Gazi. “Revisiting Evolutionary Naturalism: Challenging Misconceptions and Embracing Interactionism”. Temaşa Erciyes Üniversitesi Felsefe Bölümü Dergisi, no. 21, June 2024, pp. 218-2, doi:10.55256/temasa.1470742.
Vancouver
1.Osman Gazi Birgül. Revisiting Evolutionary Naturalism: Challenging Misconceptions and Embracing Interactionism. Temasa Journal of Philosophy. 2024 Jun. 1;(21):218-2. doi:10.55256/temasa.1470742