@misc{cogprints328, volume = {64}, month = {March}, title = {Individualism and Evolutionary Psychology (or: In Defense of 'Narrow' Functions)}, author = {David J. Buller}, year = {1997}, pages = {74--95}, journal = {Philosophy of Science}, keywords = {individualism, behavioral ecology, function, etiological theory, proximate mechanisms, selection}, url = {http://cogprints.org/328/}, abstract = {Millikan and Wilson argue, for different reasons, that the essential reference to the environment in adaptationist explanations of behavior makes (psychological) individualism inconsistent with evolutionary psychology. I show that their arguments are based on misinterpretations of the role of reference to the environment in such explanations. By exploring these misinterpretations, I develop an account of explanation in evolutionary psychology that is fully consistent with individualism. This does not, however, constitute a full-fledged defense of individualism, since evolutionary psychology is only one explanatory paradigm among many in psychology.} }