Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Darwins /Origin/ doesn’t discuss the evolution of the human mind. He saved treatment of this topic for the subsequent/Descent of Man/, in which he advanced two claims: (C1) If the cognitive powers of nonhuman animals are discontinuouswith those possessed by humans, then the human mind isnt the product of evolution by mutation and natural selection. (C2)The cognitive powers of nonhuman animals, including specifically reasoning powers, are continuous with those enjoyedby humans; continuity is established. Penn, Holyoak, and Povinelli (2008) have in /BBS/ written “Darwin’s Mistake,” inwhich they purport to refute C2 by establishing discontinuity (they don’t affirm C1). Many vehemently disagree with PHP,and the debate remains intense, and unresolved. Yet, (1) the hitherto informal concept of continuity can be formalized,and (2) that formalization, applied to the debate, settles it. We provide the formalization, and with it settle the debate (infavor of PHP).