Adapting minds is a book written by David J. Buller, a renowned philosopher of science and it constitutes a systematic argument that encompasses the criticism against the idea of evolutionary psychology. It was published by MIT Press in 2005. Buller is therefore concerned with methods, foundations and implications of science. As an expert and experienced critic in this field, Buller picked an interest in the area of psychology (human mind) which he sought to compare and contrast with the entire paradigm of human evolution in a manner of argument. Influenced by both profession and personal experiences including childhood abuse he went through, Buller was quick to discover the deficits in the scope and depth of ideas displayed by various authors such David Buss, Tobby, Cosmides, Wilson and Daly. In so doing, he comes up with succinct conclusions that are grounded on research and clarity in methodology.
Adapting Minds
The book Adapting Minds by David Buller: Evolutionary Psychology and the Persistent Quest for Human Nature attempts to unravel the myths surrounding adaptations of human psychological functioning and the time span of its development. It is purely an argumentative book and uses criticism and critique of ideas that are salient to the discovery of human evolutionary psychology and other psychological processes in relation to what other writers hold as their points of view. The fundamental questions for which this book provides response include but not limited to whether indeed human mind was designed through the process of natural selection in the Pleistocene epoch or whether the process of mind development and other psychological processes occur overtime in an adaptive manner and in regard to human experiences over both evolutionary time and individual lifetimes (Buller, 2006).
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As the name of the book suggests, the book regards psychology-which encompasses human mental processes and behavior from an evolutionary perspective hence coming up with a conclusion that evolutionary psychology lacks a fatal flaw, as contrasted to other critics who hold the view that evolutionary psychology is subject to fatal flaw. As a critic to evolutionary psychology therefore, Buller’s writings demonstrate an outright rejection of popular paradigm by Stephen Pinker in his book the Blank Slate and The Evolution Desire by David Buss. However, in his rejection, Buller remains positive and steadfast in asserting that his ideologies do not render evolutionary psychology completely useless. However, the idea he holds is that conventional wisdom conveyed in evolutionary psychology is misguided. Evolutionary psychology relies on a form of reverse engineering to depict the evolved nature of the mind, postulating the adaptive problems that our ancestors encountered followed by making consistent inferences based on the psychological adaptations which were employed to resolve such problems (Buller, 2006).
For Buller’s careful and considerate arguments throughout the chapters of Adaptive Minds, several discoveries that have been highly publicized have been scrutinized based on in-depth and widely researched evidence. Such discoveries that Buller scrutinizes include "discriminative parental solicitude" which argues that stepparents tend to abuse their stepchildren at a much higher rate compared to genetic parents abuse they are not their biological children. He uses a wide range of imperial research to argue that human mind do not adapt to the Pleistocene. However, just like the immune system, humans are in the continuous process of adaptation over both individual lifetimes and evolutionary time. These findings and conclusions in Buller’s book are grounded on a wide range of imperial research including his own personal experiences of child abuse that is considered the source of his inspiration.
One major conclusion by Buller is that humans should move beyond the reigning orthodoxy and shallow application of evolutionary psychology to arrive at an accurate understanding of the influence of evolution on human psychology. This cognitive migration according to Buller, will enable us to abandon not just the quest for human nature but the very underlying idea of human nature itself (Buller, 2006).
Adapting Minds is an authentic book that provides an argument relevant in the modern evolutionary studies of human nature and state of mind together with the mental and psychological processes associated. Buller's critique of evolutionary psychology by earlier authors is a well measured, clearly developed and logical piece. However, Adapting Minds is also devastating in a way. In his pursuit to the criticism other books, Buller fails to refute the entirety of evolutionary psychology through the use of a single magic bullet. Instead, he attends to its details, seeking a wide range of serious problems and bottlenecks in the differing arguments deployed by evolutionary psychologists. All in all, this philosophy of science is quite satisfactory for those approaching the whole thing with open mind. The book offers a solution that clears the way for the actual science regarding the manner in which evolution equips us to adjust and attend to our states of mind. If anyone has a serious interest in psychology, humanity or evolution, reading this book provides, to larger percentage freedom of mind concerning these fundamental issues. Reasons why I strongly commend all scientists in the contemporary society to read Adapting Minds is that the arguments it conveyed are purely third world in nature and qualifies the book to be termed a masterpiece that lays the foundation for future academic arguments and constructive criticisms especially as far as philosophy of science is concerned. Most important is that the argument bridges a clear gap between the past and current debates. I therefore unreservedly recommend this book to all those with intense interest in areas addressed, including detractors of evolutionary psychology.
Reference
Buller, D. J. (2006). Adapting minds: Evolutionary psychology and the persistent quest for human nature . MIT press.
