title: Hominid brain evolution: two conceptions of science.
abstract: This paper re-examines the repeatedly-offered hypothesis (Fialkowski 1978, 1986, 1987, 1988) that hominid brain expansion was largely a side effect of evolutionary response to increased heat stress under conditions of primitive hunting, and resulted in a preadaptation to enhanced cognitive abilities. Fialkowski's hypothesis, previously shown to be based on data that are seriously inaccurate, continues to be presented in a manner that precludes testing. Consequently, however interesting these ideas may be, they are beyond the conventional domain of anthropology as a legitimate subdiscipline of modern science.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Eckhardt
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000254:growth & development; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000254:growth & development; D006801:Humans