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The (Anti-)Agential Account of Human Nature: A Plea for Normativity| old_uid | 19467 |
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| title | The (Anti-)Agential Account of Human Nature: A Plea for Normativity |
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| start_date | 2021/09/27 |
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| schedule | 14h-16h |
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| online | no |
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| details | Exceptionnellement, cette première séance du séminaire Philbio a lieu un lundi mais les autres séances se dérouleront le mardi. |
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| summary | In the debate about human nature among philosophers of science, value-laden concepts of human nature – where what is “natural” is also “good” – are pretty much universally rejected. There are good reasons for this, not least since value-laden folkbiological concepts of human nature have tended to support exclusivist moralities. However, in paper I argue that this strategy is untenable. Current concepts of human nature (by Machery, Ramsey, and others) attempt to list those traits that maximally predict what is common in human populations, while also being inclusive and descriptive of extant human variation. However, descriptiveness and predictiveness cannot both be maximized, and in the inevitable compromise between the two, often ethical values play an unadvertised role. Normativity in human nature cannot be avoided even when we try to do so. So how can we account for this while not reneging on many justified criticisms of human nature over the years, by Hull, Geertz, or Sahlins, among others? The concept of agency may offer a path forward. In the positive part of the paper I propose an (anti-)agential account of human nature. Human nature refers to those traits, behaviors, or developmental pathways that are recalcitrant to collective agency: whether through policy interventions or technological innovation, these properties can either not be changed, or changed only at a great cost to average personal well-being. In this account, human nature is a bridge concept between science and ethical/political decision-making: it is amenable to scientific investigation, but is not something that can be defined independently of cultural or political processes. |
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| responsibles | Montjean, Delettre, Haas |
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