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"Frequently we imagine that we are behaving in a particular way because such behaviour accords with some abstract, lofty code of moral principles, when in reality all we are doing is obeying a deeply ingrained and long ‘forgotten’ set of purely imitative impressions.”
― Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study Of The Human Animal
"It must be stressed that there is nothing insulting about looking at people as animals. We are animals, after all. Homo sapiens is a species of primate, a biological phenomenon dominated by biological rules, like any other species. Human nature is no more than one particular kind of animal nature. Agreed, the human species is an extraordinary animal; but all other species are also extraordinary animals, each in their own way, and the scientific man-watcher can bring many fresh insights to the study of human affairs if he can retain this basic attitude of evolutionary humility."
Desmond Morris
Thoughts on evolutionary psychology, /his/? Is it mostly a pseudoscience? Are there legitimate things to learn from the discipline?
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A lot of it is pure speculation.
Same goes for anything philosophically related to Darwinism.
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The observer attributes to himself qualities of mind that he denies in those he observes, including this 'evolutionary humility'.
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>>569417
How can it be pure speculation if it is based on mountains of observations?
>http://homepage.smc.edu/zehr_david/desmond_morris.htm
The book in the OP examines human behavior extremely efficiently. It goes into great detail to show how well and alive the primitive urges are.
>>569455
How does this refute his observations of humans performing many primitive behaviors without being aware of them?
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>>569480
Just that many of the conclusions are speculatively projected from Zoology.
I know, I've read it. Observing animal behaviour is one of my hobbies.
>It goes into great detail to show how well and alive the primitive urges are.
That should be no surprise to anyone but [CURRENT YEAR] plebeians.
Have you any other literature to recommend?
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>>569480
He is imputing upon others a casual explanation of their behavior that undermines the standing of his own motivations as an observer of animal behavior. This does not mean he isn't right about what he is observing, only that his explanation for what he observes is reductive and ultimately self-defeating.
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