More Thumbs Than Rules: Is Rationality an Exaptation?
The literatures on bounded and ecological rationality are built on adaptationism—and its associated modular, cognitivist and computational paradigm—that does not address or explain the evolutionary origins of rationality. We argue that the adaptive mechanisms of evolution are not sufficient for expl...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.805743/full |
| _version_ | 1819279279078244352 |
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| author | Antonio Mastrogiorgio Teppo Felin Teppo Felin Stuart Kauffman Mariano Mastrogiorgio |
| author_facet | Antonio Mastrogiorgio Teppo Felin Teppo Felin Stuart Kauffman Mariano Mastrogiorgio |
| author_sort | Antonio Mastrogiorgio |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The literatures on bounded and ecological rationality are built on adaptationism—and its associated modular, cognitivist and computational paradigm—that does not address or explain the evolutionary origins of rationality. We argue that the adaptive mechanisms of evolution are not sufficient for explaining human rationality, and we posit that human rationality presents exaptive origins, where exaptations are traits evolved for other functions or no function at all, and later co-opted for new uses. We propose an embodied reconceptualization of rationality—embodied rationality—based on the reuse of the perception-action system, where many neural processes involved in the control of the sensory-motor system, salient in ancestral environments have been later co-opted to create—by tinkering—high-level reasoning processes, employed in civilized niches. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-24T00:25:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b29739520a734befbc7b5543c16b863b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-24T00:25:22Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-b29739520a734befbc7b5543c16b863b2022-12-21T17:24:29ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-02-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.805743805743More Thumbs Than Rules: Is Rationality an Exaptation?Antonio Mastrogiorgio0Teppo Felin1Teppo Felin2Stuart Kauffman3Mariano Mastrogiorgio4IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Lucca, ItalyHuntsman School of Business, Utah State University, Logan, UT, United StatesSaïd Business School, University of Oxford, Oxford, United KingdomInstitute for Systems Biology (ISB), Seattle, WA, United StatesDepartment of Strategy, IE University, Segovia, SpainThe literatures on bounded and ecological rationality are built on adaptationism—and its associated modular, cognitivist and computational paradigm—that does not address or explain the evolutionary origins of rationality. We argue that the adaptive mechanisms of evolution are not sufficient for explaining human rationality, and we posit that human rationality presents exaptive origins, where exaptations are traits evolved for other functions or no function at all, and later co-opted for new uses. We propose an embodied reconceptualization of rationality—embodied rationality—based on the reuse of the perception-action system, where many neural processes involved in the control of the sensory-motor system, salient in ancestral environments have been later co-opted to create—by tinkering—high-level reasoning processes, employed in civilized niches.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.805743/fullexaptationembodied rationalitybounded rationalityheuristicsneural reusespandrels |
| spellingShingle | Antonio Mastrogiorgio Teppo Felin Teppo Felin Stuart Kauffman Mariano Mastrogiorgio More Thumbs Than Rules: Is Rationality an Exaptation? Frontiers in Psychology exaptation embodied rationality bounded rationality heuristics neural reuse spandrels |
| title | More Thumbs Than Rules: Is Rationality an Exaptation? |
| title_full | More Thumbs Than Rules: Is Rationality an Exaptation? |
| title_fullStr | More Thumbs Than Rules: Is Rationality an Exaptation? |
| title_full_unstemmed | More Thumbs Than Rules: Is Rationality an Exaptation? |
| title_short | More Thumbs Than Rules: Is Rationality an Exaptation? |
| title_sort | more thumbs than rules is rationality an exaptation |
| topic | exaptation embodied rationality bounded rationality heuristics neural reuse spandrels |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.805743/full |
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