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Instincts or gadgets? Not the debate we should be having

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2019

Dan Sperber Open the ORCID record for Dan Sperber [Opens in a new window]
Dan Sperber*
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive Science and Department of Philosophy, Central European University, Budapest 1051, Hungary. [email protected]  [email protected]
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Abstract

I argue, with examples, that most human cognitive skills are neither instincts nor gadgets but mechanisms shaped both by evolved dispositions and by cultural inputs. This shaping can work either through evolved skills fulfilling their function with the help of cultural skills that they contribute to shape, or through cultural skills recruiting evolved skills and adjusting to them.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 42 , 2019 , e183
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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