History is littered with scientifically ill-founded claims about human nature. They frequently appear in normative contexts, projecting ideology or values onto nature (what we call the naturalizing error). In considering a remedy, we adopt a naturalized epistemology approach to how we think about human nature. The “nature” in “human nature” fosters unproductive essentialist thinking, epitomized in the adage “a tiger cannot change its stripes.” Universalist, fixist, and teleological perspectives each erode epistemic reasoning and blur the distinction between normative and descriptive justification. We articulate strategies to guide more responsible claims about human nature in science and science communication.

中文翻译：

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我们如何看待人性：自然化错误

历史上充斥着关于人性的科学上没有根据的主张。它们经常出现在规范语境中，将意识形态或价值观投射到自然上（我们称之为自然化错误）。在考虑补救措施时，我们采用自然化的认识论方法来思考我们如何看待人性。“人性”中的“本性”助长了非生产性的本质主义思维，这体现在“老虎不能改变它的条纹”这句格言中。普遍主义、固定主义和目的论观点都削弱了认知推理，并模糊了规范性和描述性辩护之间的区别。我们阐明了策略，以指导科学和科学传播中对人性的更负责任的主张。