The sociobiology muddle

Simon argues that much of the debate between Edward O. Wilson (On Human Nature) and his critics obscures the implications of sociobiology for ethics and social policy. Drawing upon the work of Wilson, Michael Ruse, Daniel G. Freedman and others, the author evaluates some of the criticisms of Wilson's theories on sociobiology and ethics, genetic determinism, ideology, biological diversity, and human equality. He concludes that sociobiology's detractors must formulate their charges more rigorously to be effective, and that its proponents have not been completely successful in applying their theories to human behavior.     

The sociology of sociobiology

This paper turns the tables on the criticisms of sociobiology that stem from a sociological perspective; many of those criticisms lack cogency and coherence in such measure as to demand, in their turn, a psycho‐sociological explanation rather than a rational justification. This thesis, after a brief exposition of the main ideas of sociobiology, is argued in terms of four of the most prominent complaints made against it. Far from embodying tired prejudices about the psychological and sociological implications of biology, sociobiology actually reverses a number of naive assumptions about the consequences of natural selection. I surmise that what really provokes the critics of sociobiology is a certain philosophical relevance of sociobiology both in the broad sense (the application of natural selection principles to behaviour) and in the narrow sense (the insistence on the centrality of certain mechanisms, such as gene selection). In both cases, taking biology seriously affects our philosophical vision of the nature of human beings. At the deepest level, however, the distinction between the level at which rational criteria apply and those where we must have recourse to psycho‐social explanations probably breaks down.     

The sociobiology of bereavement: a reply to Littlefield and Rushton

This article offers a critique of Littlefield and Rushton's (1986) application of sociobiological principles to bereavement following the death of a child. The following general issues are considered: (a) whether behavior is always adaptive and (b) the distinction between proximate and ultimate explanations. It is argued that grief is a maladaptive by-product of another, adaptive feature and that hypotheses about the severity of grief are best derived from proximate considerations rather than genetic relatedness. The use of a single-item rating scale to measure grief is questioned, and it is noted that interspouse reliabilities reported in the article were low, a problem not solved (as claimed) by aggregation. Criticisms are made of the specific hypotheses, notably in terms of their origins in sociobiological theory. It is argued that functional hypotheses are not alternatives to proximate mechanisms, but enable some proximate mechanisms to be viewed from the perspective of evolutionary biology.     

Differential K theory: The sociobiology of individual and group differences

Differential K Theory is proposed to help systematize individual and group differences in life histories, social behaviour and physiological functioning. K refers to one end of a continuum of reproductive strategies organisms can adopt, characterized by the production of very few offspring with a large investment of energy in each. At the opposite extreme is the r-strategy in which organisms produce a large number of offspring but invest little energy in any one. Between-species comparisons demonstrate that these reproductive strategies correlate with a variety of life history traits including: litter size, birth-spacing, parental care, infant mortality, developmental precocity, life span, intelligence, social organization and altruism. As a species, humans are at the K end of the continuum. Some people, however, are postulated to be more K than others. The more K a person is, the more likely he or she is to come from a smaller sized family, with a greater spacing of births, a lower incidence of DZ twinning, and more intensive parental care. Moreover, he or she will tend to be intelligent, altruistic, law-abiding, behaviourally restrained, maturationally delayed, lower in sex drive and longer lived. Thus diverse organismic characteristics, not otherwise relatable, are presumed to covary along the K dimension. Group differences are also hypothesized, such that, in terms of K: higher socio-economic > lower socio-economic; and Mongoloids > Caucasoids > Negroids.     

The New Darwinian Naturalism in Political Theory

There has been a resurgence of Darwinian naturalism in political theory, as manifested in the recent work of political scientists such as Roger D. Masters, Robert J. McShea, and James Q. Wilson. They belong to an intellectual tradition that includes not only Charles Darwin but also Aristotle and David Hume. Although most political scientists believe Darwinian social theory has been refuted, their objections rest on three false dichotomies: facts versus values, nature versus freedom, and nature versus nurture. Rejecting these dichotomies would allow the social sciences to be linked to the natural sciences through Darwinian biology.     

Another Darwinian Aesthetics

I offer a Darwinian perspective on the existence of aesthetic interests, tastes, preferences, and productions. It is distinguished from the approaches of Denis Dutton and Geoffrey Miller, drawing instead on Richard O. Prum's notion of biotic artworlds. The relevance of neuroaesthetics to the philosophy of art is defended.     

Animal sociobiology and comparative psychology: A review

The implications of sociobiology for comparative psychology are discussed. First, the following preliminary topics are considered: (a) the historical origins of sociobiology, and (b) the general criticisms leveled at this field. Second, the characteristics of the evolutionary functional approach to animal behavior are outlined: (a) the individual focus of natural selection, with its associated implications for the evolution of altruism, and (b) the use of mathematical models, notably optimality and games theory models. Third, it is suggested that the evolutionary functional approach can enrich the study of comparative psychology in the following ways: (a) by providing a broad framework for interspecific comparisons based on the principle of natural selection, and (b) by aiding the study of motivation and learning mechanisms through focusing attention on the function of such mechanisms.     

Nietzsche Was No Darwinian

John Richardson (2002, 2004) argues that Nietzsche's use of teleological notions, such as the "will to power" and psychological "drives," can be naturalized within the Darwinian framework of natural selection. Although this ambitious project has merit, the Darwinian framework does not provide the strong teleology necessary to interpret Nietzsche's explanatory project. Examining the logic of selection, the conceptual limitations on biological functions, and the evidential demands that must be met to deploy evolutionary theory show that Nietzsche's explanatory project does not cohere with the Darwinian framework. Thus, coherence with currently accepted evolutionary theory should not constrain the philosophical project of interpretation in this case.     

Darwinian Metaphysics: Species And The Question Of Essentialism

Biologists and philosophers of biology typically regard essentialism about speciesas incompatible with modern Darwinian theory. Analytic metaphysicians such asKripke, Putnam and Wiggins, on the other hand, believe that their essentialist thesesare applicable to biological kinds. I explore this tension. I show that standard anti-essentialist considerations only show that species do not have intrinsic essential properties. I argue that while Putnam and Kripke do make assumptions that contradict received biological opinion, their model of natural kinds, suitably modified, is partially applicable to biological species. However, Wiggins' thesis that organisms belong essentially to their species is untenable, given modern species concepts. I suggest that Putnam's, Kripke's and Wiggins' errors stem from adopting an account of the point of scientific classification which implies that relationally-defined kinds are likely to be of little value, an account which is inapplicable to biology.     

利他主义:从社会生物学到社会科学

对自然界和人类社会中广泛存在的利他行为,社会生物学在动物行为研究的基础上提出几种假说,并把它推进到人类行为领域,由此引发与其他学科,尤其是社会科学众多解释模式之间的争论。造成分歧的主要原因不仅是利他行为本身的复杂性和多样性,更主要的是不同学科范式之间,以及这些范式所秉承的研究传统和学科目标之间的差异。对利他行为合理的科学解释必须放弃由于学科分割而造成的门户之见,把客观现象的人为分裂重新整合起来。这种学科间的整合不同于以往意义上研究方法的交叉与互补,而是要在“生物——社会”层面建立一个关于人类行为的全新的理论架构。     

达尔文医学与中医学

达尔文医学是博物学（进化论）传统与生理医学传统（终因和近因生物学）最后的结合,尝试着对这门新兴学科作出理论基础和研究内容的建构。在此基础上,达尔文医学与中医学的可通之处在如下三个层次上作出了探讨：医学理念的整体性,理论基础的哲学思辨性和学科结构中的修辞性。     

The western intellectual heritage and the Soviet dissent

Studies in East European Thought -     

The Gnostic heritage of Heavy Metal

The religious impulse in early Heavy Metal music is fundamentally Gnostic. An ancient religious tradition emphasising the rule of evil and the remoteness of salvation, Gnosticism was integrated into hard rock music in the late 1960s. Early Heavy Metal musicians encountered Gnosticism as it had been absorbed into popular fiction and film, including especially the works of Dennis Wheatley and J.R.R. Tolkien. Prominent in giving Gnosticism musical form was the band Black Sabbath, whose first three albums in 1970 and 1971 pioneered the patterns of musical practice that would become the conventions of the genre. Heavy Metal’s alternately heavy and giddy affect, created via a synthesis of musical practices and complementary verbal and visual representations, brought Gnostic beliefs into meaningful intersection with the everyday lives of young blue-collar males in Britain and the United States, as they confronted the post-industrial age in the context of a waning sixties counterculture.     

达尔文医学的哲学启示

达尔文医学从本源上阐明队类疾病产生的偶然性与必然性的对立统一。其对进化论的重新反思和认识,具有重要的人文价值和现实意义。