Excellent Mel Konner perspective piece on sociobiology and EP

I wanted to share this article on sociobiology by Mel Konner (author of a wonderful book on human biology called "The Tangled Wing,") ... it has a lot of points worth thinking about.

In the initial part of the piece, Konner says:

As the new field of sociobiology has emerged during the past quarter century, it has met with firm and unrelenting opposition from prominent liberal critics...It has also drawn opposition from a group of biologists on the left who have raised general scientific and philosophical objections and have had great influence in shaping liberal opinion. The scientific critics have included highly respected figures in biology: Ruth Hubbard, Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Lewontin, and Jonathan Beckwith, among others. None in this group had done direct research on human behavior when sociobiology first emerged in the 1970s. Nonetheless, they immediately perceived a grave threat to liberal values, and their opposition has persisted ever since. However respected the source, the criticism from this group has had little effect on the direction of scientific research: sociobiology is now firmly established as an accepted branch of normal science. As a result, liberal opinion about sociobiology has increasingly diverged from scientific opinion. If liberals are to understand why this has happened, they need to consider the possibility that Gould, Lewontin, and other prominent scientific critics were wrong in their attack on sociobiology in the first place.

He then explains how critics got things wrong initially, but he doesn't stop there. He also gives insights on its limitations and its more "obnoxious" aspects as well, and concludes with some thougths on the interactions between evolutionary theory, our view of human nature, and our politics.

One of the best cultural perspective pieces I've come across so far on sociobiology and EP. The quote gives part of his conclusion, but doesn't do the article justice, you have to read the whole article to get the flavor of it.

kind regards,

Todd

Replies:

sorry for the bad link, by Todd, 04/13/04

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