Thought in a hostile world. The evolution of human cognition

This is an exploration of the evolution of cognition. The author begins by developing a set of analytic tools for thinking about cognition and its evolution. He then examines, from this evolutionary perspective, the relationship between folk psychology and an integrated scientific conception of human cognition. In the process, Sterelny explores how and why human minds have evolved. He argues that humans are cognitively, socially and sexually very unlike the other great apes, and that despite our relatively recent separation from their lineages, human social and cognitive evolution is the result of the operation of unusual evolutionary mechanisms. Finally, Sterelny offers a critique of nativist, modular versions of evolutionary psychology, applying his picture of human evolution to debates about our theory of mind and rejecting the example of language as a model for thinking about human cognitive capacities.
Contents: Part I: Assembling Intentionality: 1. Evolutionary Naturalism: Two Projects Of Evolutionary Naturalism The Simple Co-Ordination Thesis 2. Detection Systems: The Environmental Complexity Hypothesis Detection Systems The Power Of Detection Systems Transparent And Translucent Worlds Robust Tracking Systems 3. Fuels For Success: Decoupled Representation Response Breadth Fuels For Success: Space Fuels For Success: Intervention In The Material World Reprise 4. Fuels For Success: The Social Intelligence Hypothesis: The Cognitive Demands Of Social Life The Social Intelligence Hypothesis The Cognitive World Of The Great Apes: Imitation The Cognitive World Of Great Apes: Tracking Other Minds 5. The Descent Of Preference: Internal Environments The Forager’s Dilemma Preference Eliminativism? Preference-Like States Part II: Not Just Another Species Of Large Mammal: 6. Reconstructing Hominid Evolution: Testing Theories Of Human Evolution From Cognitive Device To Evolutionary History Making Progress An Example: Tomasello’s Conjecture Conclusions 7. The Co-Operation Explosion: The Co-Operative Primate Group Selection And Human Co-Operation The Ecological Trigger Of Hominid Co-Operation Coalition And Enforcement Commitment To Enforcement. Upshot 8. The Self-Made Species: Ecological Engineers Cumulative Niche Construction: The Cognitive Condition Cumulative Niche Construction: The Social Condition Hominid Epistemic Engineering Downstream Epistemic Engineering 9. Heterogeneous Environments And Variable Response: Phenotypic Plasticity Is Plasticity An Adaptation? Reprise Part III: The Fate Of The Folk: 10. The Massive Modularity Hypothesis: Massive Modularity Language: Paradigm Or Outlier? Communicative Intentions Fodor’s Modules And Their Limits Inward Bound Evolution And Encapsulation The Poverty Of The Stimulus The Case Of Folk Biology Modularity And The Frame Problem 11. Interpreting Other Agents: A Theory Of Mind Module? Deconstructing The Folk Psychology Module Interpretation, Perception And Scaffolded Learning Truth, Evidence And Success Co-Ordination And Meaning Something New Under The Sun?