The Politics of Sociobiology

Stephen Jay Gould, Joseph Alper, Bertram Bruce, Robin Crompton, and Val Dusek, , et al.
May 31, 1979 Issue

In response to:
The Illusion of Sociobiology from the October 12, 1978 issue

To the Editors:

We were pleased to read Stuart Hampshire’s review of On Human Nature (NYR, October 12) in which he shows the crucial philosophical flaws which undermine the entire structure of human sociobiology. However, in restricting himself purely to the philosophical problems inherent in On Human Nature, Hampshire neglected the social and political issues which are at the heart of the sociobiology controversy. Three years ago many of us wrote a letter (NYR, November 13, 1975) in response to a review of E.O. Wilson’s earlier book, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, in which we pointed out the political content of this new field. We expressed concern at the likelihood that pseudo-scientific ideas would be used once more in the public arena to justify social policy. The events of the intervening years have fully justified our initial fears.

Numerous articles in the popular media have used sociobiological theories to justify the status quo. In an article entitled, “A Genetic Defense of the Free Market,” Business Week (April 10, 1978) stated: “Bioeconomics says that government programs that force individuals to be less competitive and selfish than they are genetically programmed to be are preordained to fail.” Newsweek and Time have both run articles on sociobiology which comment upon the inevitability of male dominance. Considering the upsurge over the past ten years in women fighting for equality, it is no coincidence that the press has seized upon theories that can be used to perpetuate and justify the subordination of women.

Fortunately, human sociobiology has not gone unchallenged. Hampshire, in his review, points out how Wilson’s theory founders when he attempts to explain mental states such as indoctrinability by a causal physical theory based upon genetics and neurophysiology. Hampshire argues that only those human processes that can be described entirely in terms of objective observable behavior, without recourse to descriptions of mental states, are amenable to a proper sociobiological analysis. The example of a trait accessible to proper study chosen by Hampshire is male dominance. We disagree. Since we live in a society that is rife with sexism, the definition and measurement of male dominance, by necessity, depends upon the outlook of the observer. In its entire treatment of sex roles and sexual selection, On Human Nature reveals the sexism of our culture. For example, Wilson casually, and without substantiation, makes such statements as: “In general, girls are predisposed to be more intimately sociable and less physically venturesome.”

Because human behavior such as male dominance is intimately connected with political concerns, sociobiology has been able to achieve a public prominence totally incommensurate with its intellectual worth. It is precisely as a result of this link to political questions that a purely philosophical critique, even one which amply reveals the emptiness and illusion of a human sociobiology, does not undermine the acceptance of this new discipline.

That On Human Nature is political, that it contains prescriptive and proscriptive conclusions for social policy, is apparent. Wilson states without any scientific evidence: “Even with identical education for men and women and equal access to all professions, men are likely to maintain disproportionate representation in political life, business, and science” (p. 133). He goes on to say that society could compensate for this innate inequality, but at a price: “…the amount of regulation required would certainly place some personal freedoms in jeopardy, and at least a few individuals would not be allowed to reach their full potential.” There is no evidence that equality entails such costs. And on a broader political front, Wilson also is confident, without evidence, in declaring that certain social organizations are inaccessible to us: “We already know, to take two extreme and opposite examples, that the worlds of William Graham Sumner, the absolute Social Darwinist, and Mikhail Bakunin, the anarchist, are biologically impossible” (p. 208, emphasis ours).

At the present time, many technical criticisms of sociobiology have come from within anthropology and biology. Among the issues that have been raised are the misuse of animal analogies, the methodological flaws in studies claiming to show evidence for the genetic basis of human social traits, and misreadings and distortions of the anthropological literature. Despite the sociobiologists’ disavowal of Social Darwinism, the science that stands behind sociobiology has as little rigorous standing in its application to human society as Social Darwinism did in its attempt to explain the social order. Unfortunately, there are those who have been attracted by the spurious promise of reducing such disparate fields as economics, government, and psychology to a biological science. Given the lack of scientific justification, this has only been made possible by certain ingrained cultural beliefs in biological determinism. Instead of quaint historical notions about individual human traits “running in the blood,” we now have “spite,” “competitiveness,” and “xenophobia” running in the genes, and with as little empirical evidence as had the outdated notions.

The application of sociobiological reasoning to the study of human behavior has met with controversy wherever it has been introduced. Since sociobiology has such political underpinnings, philosophical and scientific critiques alone will not deny it a receptive audience. Human sociobiology will rise and fall as one element in the political conflicts that surround the social institutions it tries to legitimate and defend.

Joseph Alper, professor of chemistry, University of Massachusetts, Boston; Jonathan Beckwith, professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, Harvard Medical School; Bertram Bruce, scientist, artificial intelligence, Bolt, Beranek, and Newman, Inc.; Robin Crompton, graduate student, bioanthropology, Harvard University; Val Dusek, professor of philosophy, University of New Hampshire; Edward Egelman, graduate student, biophysics, Brandeis University; Stephen Jay Gould, professor in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University; Ruth Hubbard, professor of biology, Harvard University; Hiroshi Inouye, research fellow, Harvard Medical School; Robert Lange, professor of physics, Brandeis University; Lila Leibowitz, professor of anthropology, Northeastern University; Richard Lewontin, professor of biology, Harvard University; Freda Salzman, professor of physics, University of Massachusetts, Boston

Petrol posted:

Note: C. H. Waddington died on his way back to his home planet

this joke is too good for this place

In the late 1970s I attended meetings at which sociobiologists E. O. Wilson and David Barash, critic Stephen J. Gould, and others were on a panel. Standing blocked by the crowd in the hall outside the doorway to the packed hall I was unable hear the speakers. I spied a little door near the stage, and figured that if I could get to that door, I could get next to the stage and the front row. I sneaked through the hotel kitchen and found the door. Just as I opened it I was passed by a number of African American students who ran up on stage and poured water on Wilson's head. Wilson responded by saying to the audience that he felt like he had been speared by an aborigine. The crowd applauded the martyred Wilson (on crutches at the time--from a skiing accident) and some in the front row muttered epithets at the disrupters and at me, who appeared to have held the door for the demonstrators. The water pitcher story has been repeated scores of times in journalistic accounts, but none of these mention Wilson's racially tinged response.

Petrol posted:

gay_swimmer posted:

tpaine posted:

does chewbacca finally die

actually he becomes vegan

Hey, no spoilers.

"Luke appears and confronts Kylo alone, giving the surviving Resistance fighters time to escape. Kylo strikes Luke with his lightsaber, but learns that he has been fighting a force projection, and Luke is still on Ahch-to. Luke defiantly tells Kylo that he will not be the last Jedi, as Rey clears a blocked tunnel behind the base so the remaining Resistance fighters can escape. Luke then peacefully dies and becomes one with the Force. The remaining Resistance fighters escape aboard the Falcon, and Leia reassures everyone that the rebellion has all that is needed to rise again." sounds pretty stupid

stegosaurus posted:

officer: what's your name you piece of shit.
me: kyle....o. kylo.

lol but also “The team threw a Hail Mary to George, saying the game would have more credibility if the apprentice had a ‘Darth’ title,” a Force Unleashed team member says. Lucas agreed that this situation made sense for Sith royalty, and offered up two Darth titles for the team to choose from. “He threw out ‘Darth Icky’ and ‘Darth Insanius.’ There was a pregnant pause in the room after that. People waiting for George to say ‘just kidding,’ but it never comes, and he just moved on to another point.”

Team members involved in the decision to not use these ridiculous Darth titles could not be reached for comment, but three LucasArts employees believe an excuse was made to push the Darth title to the sequel. By the time development on that title commenced, the names were long forgotten by Lucas and weren’t muttered by the development team again.

swampman posted:

sounds pretty stupid

Breaking: sci fi film synopsis sounds fucking dumb