Review by Choice Review
Buller (Northern Illinois Univ.) extends and supplements his earlier edited work on functional analysis (Function, Selection, and Design, 1999) with an analysis and critique of evolutionary psychology. He challenges the empirical and conceptual claims of noted proponents of evolutionary psychology such as David Buss (The Evolution of Desire, CH, Oct'94, 32-1010; Evolutionary Psychology, 1999); Steven Pinker (How the Mind Works, CH, Apr'98, 35-4481; The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, CH, Mar'03, 40-4305); and Leda Cosmides and John Tooby (editors, with Jerome Barlow, of The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture, 1992; and authors of the forthcoming What Is Evolutionary Psychology?). Buller argues that the paradigm of evolutionary psychology, as opposed to the "field of inquiry" of evolutionary psychology, is wrong in almost every detail. Although he embraces an evolutionary basis and approach to understanding human psychology, Buller rejects the view he attributes to Buss et al. that human psychology is the result of adaptation to the Pleistocene environment. Instead, Buller claims, human psychology is an ongoing matter of adapting to new environments. Chapters focus on evolution, mind, adaptation, modularity of mind, mating, marriage, parenthood, and human nature. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty. D. B. Boersema Pacific University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
