INDIVIDUALISM

S

ince Darwin, the intellectual gap between humans and other pri-

mates has remained the most challenging prob lem for a theory of

evolution— and, we might say, a theory of intelligence. It has been

described as the human paradox: how can humans be so biologically con-

tinuous with other species yet be so diff er ent, especially in their poten-

tial? Th e paradox haunts evolutionary psy chol ogy and sociobiology and

other evolutionary accounts of human potential. And it leaves the fi eld of

human intelligence in a state of increasing confusion.

I argue that the question is a misleading one. It arises from attempting

to impose a narrow “biological” model on human potential, without due

regard of why or how the human species evolved. So the fi eld is pervaded

with tensions, doubts, and not a few myths, of which the nature- nurture

debate is only the most prominent. And it has thwarted a deeper under-

standing of human intelligence.

One of the tensions is about the oft en- felt need to head off allusions to

human uniqueness. Th e priority has been how not to threaten Darwin’s

famous claim, in the Descent of Man, that the diff erence in mind between

humans and higher animals is one of degree and not of kind. So care is

taken to ensure that no Rubicon has been crossed. We must keep our

Darwinian integrity; humans are products of the natu ral se lection of

genes; and so on. I have already suggested how the apparent evolutionary

gap might be fi lled: not by subverting biology but by revising and enrich-

ing it.

9. HUMAN INTELLIGENCE

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