Evolutionary Psychology and Its Skeptics

This discussion will cover the debates in the skeptic community over evolutionary psychology. In the skeptic community, Steven Pinker, Richard Dawkins, Jerry Coyne & Michael Shermer are the most prominent advocates for evo-psych as a legitimate science, while PZ Myers & Rebecca Watson are its biggest detractors and regard much evo-psych research as pseudoscience. Massimo Pigliucci falls somewhere in the middle, regarding "behavioral ecology" (comparing human behavior to that of animals and postulating about how they've been shaped by similar evolutionary pressures) as legitimate science, but remaining deeply skeptical that evolutionary psychology can tell us anything definite about aspects of human cognition & behavior that are unique to our species.

I've listed a bunch of articles in our discussion section that you can check out if you want to take an in-depth look at this debate:

https://www.meetup.com/Philly-Skeptics/messages/boards/thread/50607133

In the interest of not overburdening our members with a ton of reading, I've linked 3 videos & 1 podcast which will form the basis of our discussion. If you're not into videos or podcasts and prefer to read/skim articles instead, I've provided links to articles that contain similar content:

1. Steven Pinker, "Human Nature and The Blank Slate" (22:42 minutes)

https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_chalks_it_up_to_the_blank_slate

or simply read the TED Talk transcript: https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_chalks_it_up_to_the_blank_slate/transcript?language=en

2. Julia Galef & Massimo Pigliucci, "RS #18: Evolutionary Psychology" (31:05 minutes)

http://rationallyspeakingpodcast.org/show/rs18-evolutionary-psychology.html

or read Massimo Pigliucci, "Evolutionary Psychology, Jerry Coyne, Robert Kurzban, and The So-Called Creationism of the Mind"

http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.com/2013/08/evolutionary-psychology-jerry-coyne.html

3. David Buss and Richard Dawkins, "On Evolutionary Psychology" (9:52 minutes)

https://youtu.be/QZw3lxyuhEU

or read an excerpt from the discussion & the ensuing debate over evo-psych on this Reddit thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PurplePillDebate/comments/37jxd9/david_buss_and_richard_dawkins_on_evolutionary/?st=izbqm40m&sh=32255053#bottom-comments

4. Myles Power, "Rebecca Watson’s Dishonest Representation of Evolutionary Psychology" (15:27 minutes)

https://youtu.be/zPLCr4ouSNU

or read his video transcript here: https://mylespower.co.uk/2016/07/10/rebecca-watsons-dishonest-representation-of-evolutionary-psychology/