{"id":10244,"date":"2026-03-20T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10244"},"modified":"2025-10-12T20:50:56","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T20:50:56","slug":"looking-at-augustin-fuentess-article-2016-the-extended-evolutionary-synthesis-part-2-of-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10244","title":{"rendered":"Looking at Augustin Fuentes’s Article (2016) “The Extended Evolutionary Synthesis…” (Part 2 of 16)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

0012 Let me begin with the formal cause, along with a substitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“Integration3a<\/sub>” substitutes for “the human niche3a<\/sub>“.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0013 Section 1 is titled, “Providing context”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doesn’t that sound like the old Aristotelian term, “formal causation”?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0014 The author starts by bellyaching about the divisions within anthropology<\/em>.  Methodological and theoretical tool-kits (efficient causes) are in abundance, testifying to the lack of a consistent normal context3<\/sub>… er… integration3<\/sub><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, the very term, “ethnography”, does not denote “logos” or “understanding”.  “Ethno-” means people.  “-Graphy” means “writing” or “mapping”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ethnographic accounts by Westerners<\/em> attempt to write out (or map out) the cognitive spaces held in common by the encountered group<\/em> (or “people”).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0015 But, is a group the same as “people” (or “ethno-“)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, the salient group turns out to be a community.  Typically, an ethnographer lives (or works) in a community.  The encountered group (or “people”) is a community (numbering around 150).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0016 As it turns out, the community (150) is relevant to human evolution.  British evolutionary psychologist, Robin Dunbar, concludes that there is a consistent ratio between brain volume and group size (with caveats).  The human brain size corresponds to a group size of 150, matching size of a community (150).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See Comments on Clive Gamble, John Gowlett and Robin Dunbar’s Book (2014) Thinking Big<\/em> (by Razie Mah, available at smashwords and other e-book venues, part of the series, A Course on the Human Niche<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0017 Happily, the fact that the community (150) coincides with the group size expected for the volume of the human brain<\/em> produces an efficient cause that appears to be consistent with the normal context of integration3<\/sub><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0018 Unhappily, as soon as anyone talks to an ethnographer, then the normal context3<\/sub> and potential1<\/sub> appear to be highly unlikely.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, integration3<\/sub> is not a plausible normal context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The potential of ‘evolutionary science’1<\/sub> at least has the size of community correct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, maybe I can shift to a plausible efficient cause and the formal cause will make itself clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Okay, the ethnographer is trained to encounter a community and to map the cognition within the community (without losing one’s identity as an anthropologist).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0019 This training suggests that the proper normal context3<\/sub> is community3<\/sub>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a picture with a plausible efficient cause and a reasonable formal cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The normal context of community3<\/sub> brings the actuality of ethnography2<\/sub> into relation with the potential of ‘communal cognitive spaces’1<\/sub>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

0012 Let me begin with the formal cause, along with a substitution. “Integration3a” substitutes for “the human niche3a“. 0013 Section 1 is titled, “Providing context”. Doesn’t that sound like the old Aristotelian term, “formal causation”? 0014 The author starts by bellyaching about the divisions within anthropology.  Methodological and theoretical tool-kits (efficient causes) are in abundance, testifying to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[418],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-review"],"yoast_head":"\nLooking at Augustin Fuentes's Article (2016) "The Extended Evolutionary Synthesis..." 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