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ABSTRACT
Much of current discourse about human nature entirely fails to assimilate the lessons of Darwin. The debate about sociobiology, in particular, yielding less light than heat, has revealed among social scientists many marks of what can only be called ign orant biophobia. This is particularly acute where the analysis of human practices and motivation are concerned. I illustrate this by quoting from a debate between two eminent philosophers, driven to extremes of boorishness by their anxiety to avoid admitt ing that humans are animals. I sketch what it means for human nature to take our own animality seriously, focusing especially on two central areas of alleged human distinctiveness, intentionality and emotion. I offer a scheme for understandi ng both as admitting of degrees, so that our self image as humans can come to be one of animals gradually modified by language and technology, rather than mysteriously transformed into an entirely different genus. Once our understanding of ourselves is grounded in the understanding of our animality, we can get a clearer view of how that animality is modified. We can ask, in particular, for a less self-deceptive answer to the question of how the subtle inexhaustibility of our subjectivity -- an aspect of the lives of animals that has seemed especially problematic -- can be reconciled with, and understood in terms of, our biological nature.