Being Human, Being Homo Sapiens

Abstract

Homo sapiens, like any other biological species, arose through the process of evolution. It is natural to suppose, then, that we could appeal to evolution in explaining human nature. Yet the project of grounding human nature in evolutionary theory is generally thought to have failed. After a brief survey of two failed attempts, I argue that one cannot reduce the concept of an organismal nature to evolutionary theory because a proper understanding of evolution presupposes the concept of an organismal nature. I draw on Aristotle’s concept of bios (way of life) as a good candidate for the concept of organismal nature required by evolution. I further argue that the concept of human nature posited by proponents of neo-Aristotelian metaethics is an instance of Aristotelian bios. The upshot is that the concept of human nature is sanctioned by our best evolutionary science but can be given no reductive evolutionary account.