Evolutionary psychology is one of many biologically informed approaches to the study of human behavior. Along with cognitive psychologists, evolutionary psychologists propose that much, if not all, of our behavior can be explained by appeal to internal psychological mechanisms. What distinguishes evolutionary psychologists from many cognitive psychologists is the proposal that the relevant internal mechanisms are adaptations—products of natural selection—that helped our ancestors get around the world, survive and reproduce. To understand the central claims of evolutionary psychology we require an understanding of some key concepts in evolutionary biology, cognitive psychology, philosophy of science and philosophy of mind. Philosophers are interested in evolutionary psychology for a number of reasons. For philosophers of science —mostly philosophers of biology—evolutionary psychology provides a critical target. There is a broad consensus among philosophers of science that evolutionary psychology is a deeply flawed enterprise. For philosophers of mind and cognitive science evolutionary psychology has been a source of empirical hypotheses about cognitive architecture and specific components of that architecture. Philosophers of mind are also critical of evolutionary psychology but their criticisms are not as all-encompassing as those presented by philosophers of biology. Evolutionary psychology is also invoked by philosophers interested in moral psychology both as a source of empirical hypotheses and as a critical target.

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Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The diversity of life on Earth is dramatically affected by human alterations of ecosystems [ 1]. Compelling evidence now shows that the reverse is also true: biodiversity in the broad sense affects the properties of ecosystems and, therefore, the benefits that humans obtain from them. In this article, we provide a synthesis of the most crucial messages emerging from the latest scientific literature and international assessments of the role of biodiversity in ecosystem services and human well-being. 

Human societies have been built on biodiversity. Many activities indispensable for human subsistence lead to biodiversity loss, and this trend is likely to continue in the future. We clearly benefit from the diversity of organisms that we have learned to use for medicines, food, fibers, and other renewable resources. In addition, biodiversity has always been an integral part of the human experience, and there are many moral reasons to preserve it for its own sake. What has been less recognized is that biodiversity also influences human well-being, including the access to water and basic materials for a satisfactory life, and security in the face of environmental change, through its effects on the ecosystem processes that lie at the core of the Earth's most vital life support systems ( Figure 1). 



Figure 1

Biodiversity Is Both a Response Variable Affected by Global Change Drivers and a Factor That Affects Human Well-Being



Three recent publications from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment [ 2–4], an initiative involving more than 1,500 scientists from all over the world [ 5], provide an updated picture of the fundamental messages and key challenges regarding biodiversity at the global scale. Chief among them are: (a) human-induced changes in land cover at the global scale lead to clear losers and winners among species in biotic communities; (b) these changes have large impacts on ecosystem processes and, thus, human well-being; and (c) such consequences will be felt disproportionately by the poor, who are most vulnerable to the loss of ecosystem services.

/pdf/biodiversity-loss-threatens-human-well-being-616xleughr.pdf

Biodiversity loss threatens human well-being.

The nature of mathematical knowledge

Preface vii Acknowledgments xi Note to the Reader xiii INTRODUCTION: Mimesis and the History of Aesthetics 1 PART I CHAPTER ONE Representation and Reality: Plato and Mimesis 37 CHAPTER TWO Romantic Puritanism: Plato and the Psychology of Mimesis 72 CHAPTER THREE Mimesis and the Best Life: Plato's Repudiation of the Tragic 98 CHAPTER FOUR More Than Meets the Eye: Looking into Plato's Mirror 118 PART II CHAPTER FIVE Inside and Outside the Work of Art: Aristotelian Mimesis Reevaluated 151 CHAPTER SIX The Rewards of Mimesis: Pleasure, Understanding, and Emotion in Aristotle's Aesthetics 177 CHAPTER SEVEN Tragic Pity: Aristotle and Beyond 207 CHAPTER EIGHT Music and the Limits of Mimesis: Aristotle versus Philodemus 234 PART III CHAPTER NINE Truth or Delusion?The Mimeticist Legacy in Hellenistic Philosophy 263 CHAPTER TEN Images of Life: Mimesis and Literary Criticism after Aristotle 287 CHAPTER ELEVEN Renewal and Transformation: Neoplatonism and Mimesis 313 CHAPTER TWELVE An Inheritance Contested: Renaissance to Modernity 344 Bibliography 383 Index 419

The Aesthetics of Mimesis: Ancient Texts and Modern Problems

In this article, we provide an overview of what various philosophers throughout the ages have claimed about the nature of happiness, and we discuss to what extent psychological science has been able to substantiate or refute their claims. We ﬁrst address concerns raised by philosophers regarding the possibility, desirability, and justiﬁability of happiness and then turn to the perennial question of how to be happy. Integrating insights from great thinkers of the past with empirical ﬁndings from modern behavioral sciences, we review the conditions and causes of happiness. We conclude our discussion with some thoughts about the future of happiness studies.

In Pursuit of Happiness: Empirical Answers to Philosophical Questions

A Companion to Plato's Republic.

"A complete and unified account of Plato's epistemology ...scholarly, historically sensitive, and philosophically sophisticated. Above all it is sensible...White's strength is that he places Plato's preoccupation in careful historical perspective, without belittling the intrinsic difficulties of the problems he tackled...White's project is to find a continuous argument running through Plato's various attacks on epistemological problems. No summary can do justice to his remarkable success ..." -- Ronald B De Sousa, University of Toronto, in Phoenix

Plato on Knowledge and Reality

1. The Idea of Hellenic Harmony 2. Deliberate Conflict: Some Recent Philosophical Concepts 3. Imperatives in Greek Ethics 4. The City-State in Greek Ethics 5. Individual Good and Deliberatice Conflict Through the Time of Plato 6. Individual Good and Deliberative Conflict in Aristotle 7. Conflict and Individual Good in Hellenistic Ethics 8. Towards an Understanding of the History of Greek Ethics Bibliography, Index

Individual and Conflict in Greek Ethics

The Ascent from Nominalism

The role of physics in stoic ethics

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