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Examines the search for biological explanations of human behavior, arguing that they would have to be evolutionary to demonstrate how specific genes cause different behavior in humans than in other animals. They would also have to show that typical human behaviors are detectable alterations of behavioral traits in other organisms & therefore the result of natural selection. Two evolutionary arguments for human social behavior are examined: sociobiology & evolutionary psychology. Although still used by some social scientists, sociobiology has been firmly dismissed by biologists. The more general adaptationist theory of evolutionary psychology relies on the existence of a complex functional organization that was never fully identified. It is argued that the impetus driving the search for evolutionary biology is the desire to apply the structure of evolution by natural selection to every aspect of living organisms, thereby giving science the ultimate legitimation. To be successful, these theories must conform to the extreme reductionism of molecular biology, which would negate their validity as social theories. J. Lindroth

▪ Abstract  Studying human behavior in the light of evolutionary theory involves studying the comparative evolutionary history of behaviors (phylogeny), the psychological machinery that generates them (mechanisms), and the adaptive value of that machinery in past reproductive competition (natural selection). To show the value of a phylogenetic perspective, I consider the ethology of emotional expression and the cladistics of primate social systems. For psychological mechanisms, I review evidence for a pan-human set of conceptual building blocks, including innate concepts of things, space, and time, of number, of logic, of natural history, and of "other minds" and social life, which can be combined to generate a vast array of culture-specific concepts. For natural selection, I discuss the sexual selection of sex differences and similarities, and the social selection of moral sentiments and group psychology.

1. Introduction : what has evolution got to do with terrorism? / Max Taylor, Jason Roach and Ken Pease -- 2. Evolutionary psychology, terrorism and terrorist behaviour / Max Taylor -- 3. Evolutionary psychological influences on the contemporary causes of terrorist events / Paul Ekblom, Aiden Sidebottom and Richard Wortley -- 4. Terrorism : lessons from natural and human co-evolutionary arms races / Paul Ekblom -- 5. Why terrorism terrifies us / Jordan Kiper and Richard Sosis -- 6. Terrorism as an act-in-context : a contextual behavioral science account / Akihiko Masuda, Matthew R. Donati, L. Ward Schaefer and Mary L. Hill -- 7. Terrorism as altruism : an evolutionary model for understanding terrorist psychology / Rick O'Gorman and Andrew Silke -- 8. Terrorism's footprint of fear / Jason Roach, Ken Pease, and Charlotte Sanson.

This book explores the evolutionary context of terrorism and political violence. While evolutionary thinking has come to permeate both biological and social-science theorising, it has not yet been applied systematically to the areas of terrorism and political violence. This volume seeks to do this for the first time. It presents a collection of essays on evolutionary psychology and terrorism, which encourage the reader to approach terrorism from a non-traditional perspective, by developing new approaches to understanding it and those who commit such acts of violence. The book identifies evolut.

The foundations of practice and the most recent discoveries in theintriguing newfield of evolutionary psychology Why is the mind designed the way it is? How does input from the environment interact with the mind to produce behavior? By taking aim at such questions, the science of evolutionary psychology has emerged as a vibrant new discipline producing groundbreaking insights. In The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, leading contributors discuss the foundations of the field as well as recent discoveries currently shaping this burgeoning area of psychology

In this paper, I ask feminist philosophers and science studies scholars to consider the goals of developing critical analyses of evolutionary psychology. These goals can include development of scholarship in feminist philosophy and science studies, mediation of the uptake of evolutionary psychology by other academic and lay communities, and improvement of the practices and products of evolutionary psychology itself. I evaluate ways that some practices of feminist philosophy and science studies facilitate or hinder meeting these goals, and consider the merits of critical engagement with some of the scientists themselves. Finally, I describe a community of feminist evolutionary psychologists with whom it might be both fruitful and interesting to engage, and identify ways that these interactions may benefit the science and the study of the science.

Economics evolving : an introduction to the volume / Roger Koppl -- Hayeks theory of the mind / Brian J. Loasby -- Is homo economicus / C. Athena Aktipis, Robert O. Kurzban -- Austrian economics, evolutionary psychology, and methodological dualism : subjectivism reconsidered / Viktor J. Vanberg -- Economics and evolutionary psychology / David Friedman -- The new fable of the bees : multilevel selection, adaptive societies, and the concept of self interest / David Sloan Wilson -- Group selection and methodological individualism : compatible and complementary / Douglas Glen Whitman -- On group selection and methodological individualism : a reply to Douglas Glen Whitman / Elliott Sober, David Sloan Wilson -- Comment on group selection and methodological individualism : compatible and complementary by Douglas Glen Whitman / Richard N. Langlois -- Reconciling group selection and methodological individualism / Todd J. Zywicki -- Levels of selection and methodological individualism / Adam Gifford -- Group selection and methodological individualism : reply to comments / Douglas Glen Whitman -- Mogul games : In defense of inequality as an evolutionary strategy to cope with multiple agents of selection / Deby Cassill, Alison Watkins -- Austrian economics, evolutionary psychology and individual actions / Geoffrey M. Hodgson -- Hayek and modern evolutionary theory / Paul H. Rubin, Evelyn Gick

Economics evolving : an introduction to the volume / Roger Koppl -- Hayeks theory of the mind / Brian J. Loasby -- Is homo economicus / C. Athena Aktipis, Robert O. Kurzban -- Austrian economics, evolutionary psychology, and methodological dualism : subjectivism reconsidered / Viktor J. Vanberg -- Economics and evolutionary psychology / David Friedman -- The new fable of the bees : multilevel selection, adaptive societies, and the concept of self interest / David Sloan Wilson -- Group selection and methodological individualism : compatible and complementary / Douglas Glen Whitman -- On group selection and methodological individualism : a reply to Douglas Glen Whitman / Elliott Sober, David Sloan Wilson -- Comment on group selection and methodological individualism : compatible and complementary by Douglas Glen Whitman / Richard N. Langlois -- Reconciling group selection and methodological individualism / Todd J. Zywicki -- Levels of selection and methodological individualism / Adam Gifford -- Group selection and methodological individualism : reply to comments / Douglas Glen Whitman -- Mogul games : In defense of inequality as an evolutionary strategy to cope with multiple agents of selection / Deby Cassill, Alison Watkins -- Austrian economics, evolutionary psychology and individual actions / Geoffrey M. Hodgson -- Hayek and modern evolutionary theory / Paul H. Rubin, Evelyn Gick. - The contributors to this volume seriously engage issues in the crossroads where biology, psychology, and economics meet. The volume makes several important contributions to the area and provides an overview of the current state of knowledge. Biologist David Sloan Wilson, psychologists Robert Kurzban and C.A. Aktipis, economists Geoffrey Hodgson, Paul Rubin and Evelyn Gick, and jurist David Friedman consider altruism, selfishness, group selection, methodological individualism, dominance hierarchies, and other issues relating evolutionary psychology to economics. Several contributors, such as Viktor Vanberg and Brian Loasby, pay special attention to the role of F. A. Hayek and other Austrian thinkers in shaping evolutionary approaches to economic theory.Theoretical biologist Deby Cassill relates her revolutionary theory of skew selection in biology to perennial issues in political economy. The volume includes a symposium on group selection and methodological individualism. In an important paper, D. G. Whitman argues that group selection and methodological individualism are compatible and complementary. Comments from Elliot Sober & David Sloan Wilson, Richard Langlois, Todd Zywicki, and Adam Gifford offer a heterogeneous set of responses to Whitman's argument. Roger Koppl's introduction constitutes a review essay and includes an argument that Austrian economists have a comparative advantage in bringing the Verstehen tradition of social thought into contact with recent work in biology and evolutionary psychology