Social norms and other minds: The evolutionary roots of higher cognition.

Abstract

did the capacity to reason evolve? The trite answer is that an intelligent organism has a definite advantage over an unintelligent one in the struggle for survival. But embedded in this trite answer is a key insight: The pres-sure to compete and cooperate successfully with members of one's own species (conspecifics) constituted a major force behind the evolution of reasoning capacity. I will take it as my task in this chapter to persuade you of this particu-lar view of the evolution of human reasoning capacity, one in which the social environment plays a leading role. The core of my argument is that fundamental components of our reasoning architecture evolved in response to pressures to reason about dominance hierarchies, the social organization that characterizes most social mammals. I will argue that special reasoning architecture evolved to handle problems that are repeatedly encountered by individuals living in dominance hierarchies, problems that directly im-pact survival rates and reproductive success. These problems include: the necessity to recognize and respond appropriately to permissions, obliga-tions, and prohibitions; and the necessity to circumvent the constraints of the hierarchy by dint of guile, particularly through successfully forcasting others ' behavior. I will argue that functional architectures evolved for solv-

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