On Tue, 19 Mar 2002, Rick Green wrote:
> but to repeat the old saws about instinct, evolution, hard-wired
> brains is to place worn labels on brain functioning which is poorly
> understood.

Actually, the belief that "evolution = instinct = hard-wired" is a
position that very few evolutionary biologists, cognitive
psychologists, and evolutionary psychologists would share.  The
"nature versus nurture" debates presuppose the Standard Social Science
Model, which is rejected by these three groups.

For an enjoyable introduction to evolutionarily psychology that
doesn't assume the reader has a scientific background, see:

   The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of
       Evolutionary Psychology
   by Robert Wright
   Publisher: Vintage Books

For a more rigorous introduction, see:

   The Adapted Mind : Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture
   by Jerome H. Barkow (Editor), Leda Cosmides (Editor), John Tooby (Editor)
   Publisher: Oxford University Press

Sample pages for both books are available at www.amazon.com.

Happy reading,
James