Evolutionary logic
Encyclopedia
Evolutionary Logic is the idea that logical rules can be reduced
to biology.
It is a theory of rationality in which rational and logical rules emerged for pragmatic reasons, and are therefore not special laws.
The formal systems of logic have ordinarily been studied independently, but (continual) progress in evolutionary theory suggests that biology and logic could be intimately interrelated.
Evolutionary Logic suggests that the principles of reasoning are neither fixed, absolute, independent, nor elemental. Instead it is the evolutionary dynamic that is elemental.
William S. Cooper argues in the book The Evolution of Reason that logical rules are derived directly from evolutionary principles.
Logical rules are derived directly from evolutionary principles, and therefore, have no metaphysical status of their own.
Individuals including Noam Chomsky
, Steven Pinker
, Leda Cosmides
, John Tooby
, and David Buss
, believed that all brain functions were founded on specific modules – there would be modules for language, for mating, religion, etc, and so logic.
Archaeologist Steven Mithen
writes in The Prehistory of Mind(1996), there is evidence that our ancestors began with a generic intelligence, such as we find in apes.
Others have suggested that ancestors developed three major specialized modules: one for naive physics; one for manufacture of instruments; and one for culture and the politics of coexistence.
Reduction (philosophy)
In philosophy, reduction is the process by which one object, property, concept, theory, etc., is shown to be explicable in terms of another, lower level, entity...
to biology.
It is a theory of rationality in which rational and logical rules emerged for pragmatic reasons, and are therefore not special laws.
The formal systems of logic have ordinarily been studied independently, but (continual) progress in evolutionary theory suggests that biology and logic could be intimately interrelated.
Evolutionary Logic suggests that the principles of reasoning are neither fixed, absolute, independent, nor elemental. Instead it is the evolutionary dynamic that is elemental.
William S. Cooper argues in the book The Evolution of Reason that logical rules are derived directly from evolutionary principles.
Logical rules are derived directly from evolutionary principles, and therefore, have no metaphysical status of their own.
Modularity theory of mind
The Modularity theory of mind is the notion that a mind, at least in part, may be composed of separate innate structures which have established evolutionarily-developed functional purposes.Individuals including Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
, Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Steven Arthur Pinker is a Canadian-American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author...
, Leda Cosmides
Leda Cosmides
Leda Cosmides, is an American psychologist, who, together with anthropologist husband John Tooby, helped develop the field of evolutionary psychology....
, John Tooby
John Tooby
John Tooby is an American anthropologist, who, together with psychologist wife Leda Cosmides, helped pioneer the field of evolutionary psychology....
, and David Buss
David Buss
David M. Buss is a professor of psychology at The University of Texas at Austin, known for his evolutionary psychology research on human sex differences in mate selection.-Biography:...
, believed that all brain functions were founded on specific modules – there would be modules for language, for mating, religion, etc, and so logic.
Archaeologist Steven Mithen
Steven Mithen
Steve Mithen is a Professor of Archaeology at the University of Reading. He has written a number of books including The Singing Neanderthals and The Prehistory of the Mind: The Cognitive Origins of Art, Religion and Science.-See also:...
writes in The Prehistory of Mind(1996), there is evidence that our ancestors began with a generic intelligence, such as we find in apes.
Others have suggested that ancestors developed three major specialized modules: one for naive physics; one for manufacture of instruments; and one for culture and the politics of coexistence.
See also
- Naturalized epistemologyNaturalized epistemologyNaturalized epistemology is a collection of philosophic views concerned with the theory of knowledge that emphasize the role of natural scientific methods. This shared emphasis on scientific methods of studying knowledge shifts focus to the empirical processes of knowledge acquisition and away from...
- ConsilienceConsilienceConsilience, or the unity of knowledge , has its roots in the ancient Greek concept of an intrinsic orderliness that governs our cosmos, inherently comprehensible by logical process, a vision at odds with mystical views in many cultures that surrounded the Hellenes...
- Logic#Criticisms of logic
- Cognitive closure (philosophy)
- DialetheismDialetheismDialetheism is the view that some statements can be both true and false simultaneously. More precisely, it is the belief that there can be a true statement whose negation is also true...