>>12614762>Humans evolved to survive and reproduce"Survival" and "reproduction" are linguistic constructs denoting processes which exist outside of these labels, but processes that are by no means normative in status or teleological in character except to those who have absorbed evopsych narratives without understanding the philosophical presuppositions they entail.
Evolution and natural selection denote a set of observed phenomena wherein creatures gradually change via genetic mutation, and the ones who subsequently survive in their environments as a result of these changes then pass off these same genes to their descendants who are similarly likely to survive better by consequence, continuing onwards in this fashion in a way that accounts for the particularities of the known species either past or present.
The unfounded assumptions of evolutionary psychology in relation to the above doctrine is in arguing that:
1) the creature's behaviors were themselves entirely driven by an "intention" towards survival and reproduction, thereby imputing the intention-less series of processes of mutation, reproduction, and survival, with an element they never previously had and have never been proven to have.
2) the mere processes mentioned earlier were then deemed to be "normative", transforming from events which "can happen" into events which "should happen", thus adding another layer of philosophy to what was only a description of empirical observations.
3) it brings teleology into the picture by deeming a creature's behavior to be "directed towards" survival and reproduction, where the original processes involved were direction-less and only produced their results by a happenstance harmonization of physical factors rather than any kind of endgoal of doing so.
To summarize, I would edit your earlier statement to say "we evolved BY surviving and reproducing", rather than "to" survive and reproduce. It's only a change in grammar, but alters the meaning completely.
