Gillian Barker

Beyond Biofatalism: Human Nature for an Evolving World Gillian Barker

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index. Review Quotes: Gillian Barker's "Beyond Biofatalism" is an indispensable antidote to dangerous complaisance about contemporary social institutions, and to unwarranted resignation about our powers to improve them, both fostered by a superficial Darwinism. All of us committed to employing Darwin's insights about adaptation to understanding and ameliorating social life need to read this book.--Alex Rosenberg, Duke UniversityBiographical Note: Gillian Barker is assistant professor in the Rotman Institute of Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario. She has also taught at Indiana University, Simon Fraser University, and Bucknell University. She is the author, with Philip Kitcher, of "Philosophy of Science: A New Introduction," and editor, with Eric Desjardins and Trevor Pearce, of "Entangled Life: Organism and Environment in the Biological and Social Sciences."Review Quotes: Barker's focus on the conjunction of plasticity and stability, on viewing adaptations as a space of alternatively realizable equilibria between phenotypic distributions and environmental states, is as unique as it is insightful.--Bruce Glymour, Kansas State UniversityTable of Contents: Preface1. Human Nature and the Limits of Human Possibility2. The Cost of Change3. Thinking About Change and Stability in Living Systems4. Lessons from Development, Ecology, and Evolutionary Biology5. Human Possibilities6. Valuing Change7. Choosing Environments8. What Is Feasible?9. Evolutionary Psychology and Human PossibilitiesNotesReferencesIndexReview Quotes: Deeply informed, cogently argued, and lucidly written, "Beyond Biofatalism" offers the most constructive discussion of evolutionary psychology currently available. If the evolutionary understanding of human thought and action is ever to fulfill its promise, it will be through absorbing Gillian Barker's wise counsel.--Philip Kitcher, Columbia UniversityReview Quotes: So many popularizers of evolutionary psychology focus on what they take to be biologically based constraints on the possibility for social change that you might be forgiven for thinking that the message about human potential from evolutionary theory is grim. Barker, in this succinct and well-written book, shows that current research in evolution, social psychology, and behavioral ecology - evolutionary psychology writ large, if you will - offers a radically different perspective. By surveying a wide range of specific findings on behavioral plasticity and sensitivity to environmental conditions and making a few key conceptual corrections, for example, urging us not to confuse social arrangements for natural environments, Barker shows that human biology, as biology more generally, is open to more varied social futures than is commonly thought.--Helen Longino, Stanford UniversityReview Quotes:"Beyond Biofatalism" is an indispensable antidote to dangerous complaisance about contemporary social institutions and unwarranted resignation about our powers to improve them, both fostered by a superficial Darwinism. All who are committed to employing Darwin's insights about adaptation to understanding and ameliorating social life need to read this book.--Alex Rosenberg, Duke UniversityReview Quotes: Had you read only popularizers of evolutionary psychology, you might be forgiven for thinking that the message about human potential from evolutionary theory is grim. Gillian Barker, in this succinct and well-written book, shows that specific empirical findings in evolution, social psychology, and behavioral ecology--evolutionary psychology writ large--suggest that human biology, as biology more generally, is open to more varied social futures than is commonly thought--Helen Longino, Stanford UniversityPublisher Marketing:"Beyond Biofatalism" is a lively and penetrating response to the idea that evolutionary psychology reveals human beings to be incapable of building a more inclusive, cooperative, and egalitarian society. Considering the pressures of climate change, unsustainable population growth, increasing income inequality, and religious extremism, this attitude promises to stifle the creative action we require before we even try to meet these threats. "Beyond Biofatalism" provides the perspective we need to understand that better societies are not only possible but actively enabled by human nature. Gillian Barker appreciates the methods and findings of evolutionary psychologists, but she considers their work against a broader background to show human nature is surprisingly open to social change. Like other organisms, we possess an active plasticity that allows us to respond dramatically to certain kinds of environmental variation, and we engage in niche construction, modifying our environment to affect others and ourselves. Barker uses related research in social psychology, developmental biology, ecology, and economics to reinforce this view of evolved human nature, and philosophical exploration to reveal its broader implications. The result is an encouraging foundation on which to build better approaches to social, political, and other institutional changes that could enhance our well-being and chances for survival. Review Citations:

Library Journal 10/01/2015 pg. 103 (EAN 9780231171885, Hardcover)