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A Field Study of Con Games

Author(s): Milam, Erika L.

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Abstract: In 1978, the evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers and Huey P. Newton, cofounder of the Black Panthers, began a collaboration exploring the evolution of self-deception. Together they published a brief paper that used their ideas about the naturalistic basis of deceit and self-deception to explain the crash of Air Florida Flight 90 in Washington, D.C. Given the continued power of the naturalistic fallacy in the modern life sciences, historical attention typically focuses on highly visible controversies with great popular traction. This essay instead mobilizes the muted legacy of Trivers and Newton’s publication to underscore the inherent difficulties scientists face in finding a receptive audience for their theories, even naturalistic ones.
Publication Date: Sep-2014
Citation: Milam, Erika L. "A Field Study of Con Games." Isis 105, no. 3 (2014): 596-605. doi:10.1086/678175.
DOI: doi:10.1086/678175
ISSN: 0021-1753
EISSN: 1545-6994
Pages: 596 - 605
Language: eng
Type of Material: Journal Article
Journal/Proceeding Title: Isis
Version: Final published version. Article is made available in OAR by the publisher's permission or policy.



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