In many small world, pre-state societies it is believed that many misfortunes are the result of malicious human agency, using occult techniques. Shit does not just happen. The aim of this paper is to persuade the audience that this is a puzzle for the human evolutionary sciences, that the standard explanations do not solve the puzzle, and to offer a partial solution.

Professor Sterelny describes himself as an “aging and somewhat decrepit philosopher of the historical sciences, primarily working on the evolution of human social life.”