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Introduction
Evolutionary psychology is a relatively recent area of academic study in the social and natural sciences, with its most current form having emerged in the 1980s. Given its relative youth as an area of academic interest and the subject’s interrelatedness with biological study, the qualification of substantive evidence in evolutionary psychology draws on the rigorously standardized methods and conventions of evolutionary biology. Considering such a connection, an assessment of what constitutes “evidence” in evolutionary biology more generally is first required.

Evidence in Evolutionary Biology
As in many disciplines, evolutionary biology draws on many sources of primary and secondary evidence. To begin, one such primary source held in near-sanctity in evolutionary biology is the fossil record. As early as 1799, geologist William Smith identified that in undisturbed layers of rock, fossils appeared to be in a sequential order, with the most recent fossils occurring nearer the top of these layers. Such a logical conclusion also lent itself to the construction of an approximate chronology of the fossils which was later corroborated by William Lonsdale in the 1830s.

Truth in Conceptual Engineering
Conceptual engineering has emerged as both a useful methodology and, more broadly, a growing field of metaphysical research and study. A working definition of the field as provided by Australian philosopher David J. Chalmers reads as follows: "Conceptual engineering is the process of designing, implementing, and evaluating concepts." Some may argue the approach of conceptual engineering has been used throughout philosophical history, though it has not been until recent history in which a distinct disciplinary study of conceptual engineering has emerged. The case for conceptual engineering as a discipline seems justifiable insofar as it implements a unique methodology, quite an established lexicon, and a subject matter that while thoroughly considered in other sub-disciplines of metaphysics, presents entirely differently based on the framework conceptual engineering provides.