Expanding the causal menu: An interventionist perspective on explaining human behavioural evolution

Evolutionary Human Sciences 6:e39 (2024)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Theorists of human evolution are interested in understanding major shifts in human behavioural capacities (e.g. the creation of a novel technological industry, such as the Acheulean). This task faces empirical challenges arising both from the complexity of these events and the time-depths involved. However, we also confront issues of a more philosophical nature, such as how to best think about causation and explanation. This article considers such fundamental questions from the perspective of a prominent theory of causation in the philosophy of science literature, namely, the interventionist theory of causation. A signature feature of this framework is its recognition of a family of distinct types of causes. We set out several of these causal notions and show how they can contribute to explaining transitions in human behavioural complexity. We do so, first, in a preliminary way, and then in a more detailed way, taking the origins of behavioural modernity as our extended case study. We conclude by suggesting some ways in which the approach developed here might be elaborated and extended.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 103,486

External links

  • This entry has no external links. Add one.
Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Cultural Evolution Research Needs to Include Human Behavioural Ecology.Alberto J. C. Micheletti, Eva Brandl, Hanzhi Zhang, Sarah Peacey & Ruth Mace - 2023 - In Agathe du Crest, Martina Valković, André Ariew, Hugh Desmond, Philippe Huneman & Thomas A. C. Reydon, Evolutionary Thinking Across Disciplines: Problems and Perspectives in Generalized Darwinism. Springer Verlag. pp. 2147483647-2147483647.
Evolutionary accounts of human behavioural diversity introduction.Gillian R. Brown, Thomas E. Dickins, Rebecca Sear & Kevin N. Laland - 2011 - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 366 (156):313-324.
Mechanisms, the interventionist theory, and the ability to use causal relationships.Georgie Statham - 2018 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 72:22-31.
In defense of interventionist solutions to exclusion.Thomas W. Polger, Lawrence A. Shapiro & Reuben Stern - 2018 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 68:51-57.
A Pragmatist Perspective on Causation, Laws and Explanation.Richard Healey - 2021 - In Jan Voosholz & Markus Gabriel, Top-Down Causation and Emergence. Cham: Springer Verlag. pp. 253-268.

Analytics

Added to PP
2024-11-19

Downloads
0

6 months
0

Historical graph of downloads

Sorry, there are not enough data points to plot this chart.
How can I increase my downloads?

Author Profiles

Ronald J. Planer
Australian National University
Ross Pain
University of Bristol

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references