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“Not Much to Praise in Such Seeking and Finding”: Evolutionary Psychology, the Biological Turn in the Humanities, and the Epistemology of Ignorance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2020

Kim Q. Hall
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Abstract

This paper critiques the rise of scientific approaches to central questions in the humanities, specifically questions about human nature, ethics, identity, and experience. In particular, I look at how an increasing number of philosophers are turning to evolutionary psychology and neuroscience as sources of answers to philosophical problems. This approach constitutes what I term a biological turn in the humanities. I argue that the biological turn, especially its reliance on evolutionary psychology, is best understood as an epistemology of ignorance that contributes to a climate of hostility and intolerance regarding feminist insights about gender, identity, and the body.

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Articles
Information
Hypatia , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , Winter 2012 , pp. 28 - 49
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by Hypatia, Inc.

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