DENYING WHAT IS IN FRONT OF OUR NOSES

People say that we are our brains; our brains are evolved organs designed like other organs in all other living creatures to promote survival; the theory of evolution should therefore have the last word on human nature. And if you want to understand human beings, look to biology: thus the grand synthesis of Neuromania and Darwinitis. We have seen that Neuromania is without foundation, but Darwinitis is equally vulnerable. This time, you will be glad to know, knotty philosophical arguments are not required to expose this. We have only to do what Darwinitics failed to do. If they only looked at what was in front if their noses they would not have to be told that there are differences between organisms and people: that a great gulf separates us from even our nearest animal kin. There are, however, many thinkers who do see these differences but insist that they are not real or, if real, not fundamental. Under the surface differences, they tell us, there is a deep similarity or even identity. The life of a person in the office is essentially shaped by, and driven by, the programmes, instincts, tropism, motivations, imperatives and so on that guide the life of an ape in the jungle.