Essay Review: Sociobiology: Twenty-Five Years Later

@article{Yudell2000EssayRS,  title={Essay Review: Sociobiology: Twenty-Five Years Later},  author={Michael Yudell and Robert DeSalle},  journal={Journal of the History of Biology},  year={2000},  volume={33},  pages={577-584},  url={https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:88047081}}
  • M. YudellR. DeSalle
  • Published1 December 2000
  • Sociology, History, Biology
  • Journal of the History of Biology
Once again, in the mid-1970s, the nature-nurture debate came to the fore, and biological reductionism and genetic determinism became the focus of rancorous debates, discussions and diatribes within both academia and popular culture.
6 Citations

6 Citations

From outrage to orthodoxy?

The outrage that greeted the publication of Edward O. Wilson's 1975 path-breaking volume, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, was fuelled by Wilson's temerity in asserting that the principles of the new synthetic theory applied no less to humans than to other species.

The Great Battle of the Books between the Cultural Evolutionists and the Cultural Relativists: From the Beginning of Infinity to the End of History

The idea that societies or cultures can evolve and, therefore, can be compared and graded has been central to modern history, in general, and to big history, in particular, which seeks to unite…

Multiple infection theory rather than ‘socio‐virology’? A commentary on Leeks et al. 2023

It is argued that multiple infection frameworks developed in evolutionary epidemiology offer a range of theories, concepts, and tools that are particularly suited to capture the dynamics of diverse virus populations and study the evolution of their social traits.

Dynamics and evolution of infectious diseases

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not, for teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers.

Évolution de la virulence des parasites : apports des modèles emboîtés. (Parasite virulence evolution : insights from embedded models)

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not, for teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers.

25 References

Race in North America: Origin and Evolution of a Worldview

Now in a substantially revised third edition, "Race in North America" offers a compelling analysis of the evolution of 'race' and the cultural context from which it emerged. Few topics in the Western…

Unifying biology: The evolutionary synthesis and evolutionary biology

It is argued that an autonomous science of life was not as strongly defensible until evolution was articulated, and Huxley may be viewed as a chief discipline builder for biology.

Social Darwinism in European and American Thought, 1860-1945: Nature as Model and Nature as Threat

Acknowledgements Part I. Defining Social Darwinism: Introduction: the identity of Social Darwinism 1. Defining Social Darwinism 2. The distinctiveness of Social Darwinism Part II. Pioneers: 3. The…

Evolution: The Modern Synthesis

This definitive edition brings one of the most important and successful scientific books of the twentieth century back into print and includes the entire text of the 1942 edition, Huxley's introduction to the 1963 second edition (which demonstrates his continuing command of the field), and the introduction tothe 1974 third edition, written by nine experts from different areas of evolutionary biology.

A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion

Thornhill and Palmer address, and claim to demolish scientifically, many myths about rape bred by social science theory over the past twenty-five years and recommend that young women consider the biological causes of rape when making decisions about dress, appearance, and social activities.

Sociobiology: Another Biological Determinism

It is shown that sociobiological theory is carefully constructed to make it impossible to test, that it makes a number of fundamental errors in attempting to describe “human nature,” that there is no evidence for inheritance of human social traits, and that the evolutionary arguments used are merely fanciful, adaptive stories.

The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection

Although it is true that most text-books of genetics open with a chapter on biometry, closer inspection will reveal that this has little connexion with the body of the work, and that more often than not it is merely belated homage to a once fashionable study.

In the Name of Eugenics: Genetics and the Uses of Human Heredity

The author examines the development of Eugenics in the 20th Century through the work of Francis Galton, Charles Davenport, Lionel Penrose, and others.

The Retreat of Scientific Racism: Changing Concepts of Race in Britain and the United States between the World Wars

Part I. Anthropology: 1. Constructing a British identity 2. American diversity Part II. Biology: 3. In search of a biology of race 4. The limit of traditional reform 5. Mitigating racial differences…

The Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism

It is shown that the details of the psychological system that regulates this altruism can be explained by the model, and friendship, dislike, moralistic aggression, gratitude, sympathy, trust, suspicion, trustworthiness, aspects of guilt, and some forms of dishonesty and hypocrisy can be explaining as important adaptations to regulate the altruistic system.

Related Papers

Showing 1 through 3 of 0 Related Papers