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General intelligence is an emerging property, not an evolutionary puzzle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 August 2017

Franck Ramus
Franck Ramus*
Affiliation:
CNRS, Ecole Normale Supérieure, EHESS, PSL Research University, 75005 Paris, [email protected]://www.lscp.net/persons/ramus/en/
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Abstract

Burkart et al. contend that general intelligence poses a major evolutionary puzzle. This assertion presupposes a reification of general intelligence – that is, assuming that it is one “thing” that must have been selected as such. However, viewing general intelligence as an emerging property of multiple cognitive abilities (each with their own selective advantage) requires no additional evolutionary explanation.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e217
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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