The Great Exaptation. Around the fundamental idea of evolutionary psychology

• Published in: Ecological questions Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 89 - 94
• Main Author: Reuter, Magdalena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Toruń Versita 01.12.2010; Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu
• Subjects: adaptationist programme; cognitive processes; evolution of human mind

The subject of this article is to study the critique of the adaptationist programme in the evolutionary psychology. I focus on the issue how the notions of “spandrel” and “exaptation”, first introduced to evolutionary biology by S. J. Gould, R. Lewontin and E. Vrba, were then applied to the field of...