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Contraposition Posted 13 years ago
Vocabulary
get backwards
But recent evidence confirms that Neanderthals share the very
same two mutations, which suggests that the common ancestor
of Neanderthals and modern people, living about 400,000 years
ago, may have already been using pretty sophisticated language.
If language is the key to cultural evolution, and Neanderthals
had language, then why did the Neanderthal toolkit show so
little cultural change?
Moreover, genes would undoubtedly have changed during
the human revolution after 200,000 years ago, but more in
response to new habits than as causes of them. At an earlier date,
cooking selected mutations for smaller guts and mouths, rather
than vice versa. At a later date, milk drinking selected for muta -
tions for retaining lactose digestion into adulthood in people of
western European and East African descent. The cultural horse
comes before the genetic cart. The appeal to a genetic change
driving evolution gets gene-culture co-evolution backwards: it
is a top-down explanation for a bottom-up process.
? Matt Ridley, The Rational Optimist
What does 'appeal' mean?
What does 'get ~ backwards' mean?
same two mutations, which suggests that the common ancestor
of Neanderthals and modern people, living about 400,000 years
ago, may have already been using pretty sophisticated language.
If language is the key to cultural evolution, and Neanderthals
had language, then why did the Neanderthal toolkit show so
little cultural change?
Moreover, genes would undoubtedly have changed during
the human revolution after 200,000 years ago, but more in
response to new habits than as causes of them. At an earlier date,
cooking selected mutations for smaller guts and mouths, rather
than vice versa. At a later date, milk drinking selected for muta -
tions for retaining lactose digestion into adulthood in people of
western European and East African descent. The cultural horse
comes before the genetic cart. The appeal to a genetic change
driving evolution gets gene-culture co-evolution backwards: it
is a top-down explanation for a bottom-up process.
? Matt Ridley, The Rational Optimist
What does 'appeal' mean?
What does 'get ~ backwards' mean?
Top answer
In this case "appeal" means recourse to a particular fact or line of argument in an attempt to support the point one is trying to make. g. claim that A causes B, when actually B causes A).
- In this case "appeal" means recourse to a particular fact or line of argument in an attempt to support the point one is trying to make.
- g.
- claim that A causes B, when actually B causes A).
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2 Answers
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In this case "appeal" means recourse to a particular fact or line of argument in an attempt to support the point one is trying to make.
"get ~ backwards" means to have an explanation the wrong way round (e.g. claim that A causes B, when actually B causes A).
"get ~ backwards" means to have an explanation the wrong way round (e.g. claim that A causes B, when actually B causes A).
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contrapositionThe appeal to a genetic changedriving evolution gets gene-culture co-evolution backwards ...1 Literally, "call" or "calling upon". Paraphrases:
1 What does 'appeal' mean?
2 What does 'get ~ backwards' mean?
Calling upon the argument that genetic change drives evolution ...
Resorting to the argument that genetic change driv
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