Abstract
In this riposte it will be argued that the critique by Peters (2013) of the theoretical foundation of evolutionary psychology misses the mark, and, in the process, unfortunately repeats many common and egregious misunderstandings. This reply will attempt to outline the real position of evolutionary psychologists with respect to modularity and the development, flexibility, and learning capacities of cognitive adaptations. In particular, evolutionary psychologists’ concept of the developmental target of naturally selected design will be made salient. I also aim to provide a more accurate treatment of the neurobiological and genomic issues at stake. In sum, it will be shown that Peters’ rendering of the theoretical foundation of evolutionary psychology is a straw man representation and that the real position of evolutionary psychologists is far more interesting once some of the nuances of their theoretical foundation are brought to light.
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