Getting Darwin Wrong: Why Evolutionary Psychology Won't Work (Societas)

Brendan Wallace, with a background in psychology, demonstrates that the key claims of Evolutionary Psychology (EP), popularised by Steven Pinker and others, are based on the 'brain is a digital computer' argument. He then argues that as we now know this model of the brain will not work, therefore EP won't work either, since it is based on a fallacious view of the mind/brain. The book, which is written in a reader friendly but rigorous style, is a timely assault on one of the most fashionable philosophies of mind currently 'out there'.

"The progressive encroachment of biologism on our thinking about ourselves and the capitulation of the humanities before pseudo-sciences such as evolutionary psychology is a disaster. Getting Darwin Wrong ― a lucid, scholarly, account of the rise of 'Darwinitis' and a demolition of its claim to add anything other than truisms or fallacies to our understanding of human behaviour ― is timely and of immense importance. It should be required reading for students of psychology and, indeed, anyone who imagines that Darwinian thought requires us to deny the vast gulf between ourselves and the rest of the animal kingdom."