The Triumph of SociobiologyOxford University Press, 28 июн. 2001 г. - Всего страниц: 272 In The Triumph of Sociobiology, John Alcock reviews the controversy that has surrounded evolutionary studies of human social behavior following the 1975 publication of E.O. Wilson's classic, Sociobiology, The New Synthesis. Denounced vehemently as an "ideology" that has justified social evils and inequalities, sociobiology has survived the assault. Twenty-five years after the field was named by Wilson, the approach he championed has successfully demonstrated its value in the study of animal behavior, including the behavior of our own species. Yet, misconceptions remain--to our disadvantage. In this straight-forward, objective approach to the sociobiology debate, noted animal behaviorist John Alcock illuminates how sociobiologists study behavior in all species. He confronts the chief scientific and ideological objections head on, with a compelling analysis of case histories that involve such topics as sexual jealousy, beauty, gender difference, parent-offspring relations, and rape. In so doing, he shows that sociobiology provides the most satisfactory scientific analysis of social behavior available today. Alcock challenges the notion that sociobiology depends on genetic determinism while showing the shortcoming of competing approaches that rely on cultural or environmental determinism. He also presents the practical applications of sociobiology and the progress sociobiological research has made in the search for a more complete understanding of human activities. His reminder that "natural" behavior is not "moral" behavior should quiet opponents fearing misapplication of evolutionary theory to our species. The key misconceptions about this evolutionary field are dissected one by one as the author shows why sociobiologists have had so much success in explaining the puzzling and fascinating social behavior of nonhuman animals and humans alike. |
Содержание
| 3 | |
| 7 | |
Chapter 2 What Sociobiologists Study | 23 |
Chapter 3 Sociobiology and Genes | 41 |
Chapter 4 Sociobiology and Science | 57 |
Chapter 5 Science and Reality | 81 |
Chapter 6 What Have Sociobiologists Discovered? | 93 |
Chapter 7 The Problem with Cultural Determinism | 129 |
Chapter 9 The Practical Applications of Sociobiology | 189 |
Chapter 10 The Triumph of Sociobiology | 217 |
Appendix | 225 |
Citations | 231 |
Selected References | 245 |
Illustration Credits | 247 |
Index | 249 |
Chapter 8 Sociobiology and Human Culture | 149 |
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Стр. 31 - If it could be proved that any part of the structure of any one species had been formed for the exclusive good of another species, it would annihilate my theory, for such could not have been produced through natural selection.
Стр. 65 - The results are consistent with the expectations of evolutionary theory. Thus aggression toward an intruding male (the model) would clearly be especially advantageous early in the breeding season, when territories and nests are normally defended . . . The initial aggressive response to the mated female is also adaptive in that, given a situation suggesting a high probability of adultery (ie the presence of the model near the female) and assuming that replacement females are available, obtaining a...
Стр. 137 - Beauty" is a currency system like the gold standard. Like any economy, it is determined by politics, and in the modern age in the West it is the last, best belief system that keeps male dominance intact. In assigning value to women in a vertical hierarchy according to a culturally imposed physical standard, it is an expression of power relations in which women must unnaturally compete for resources that men have appropriated for themselves. "Beauty...
Стр. 55 - ... selection. Actually these considerations do not bear on the basic postulates of the theory. No matter how functionally dependent a gene may be, and no matter how complicated its interactions with other genes and environmental factors, it must always be true that a given gene substitution will have an arithmetic mean effect on fitness in any population.
Стр. 95 - Darwin had already raised the question of the survival value of fighting, and he has given us an enlightening answer: It is always favorable to the future of a species if the stronger of two rivals takes possession either of the territory or of the desired female.
Стр. 9 - It is defined by its practitioners as the systematic study of the biological basis of all social behavior, from social insects to humans.
Стр. 66 - ... male (the model) would clearly be especially advantageous early in the breeding season, when territories and nests are normally defended . . . The initial aggressive response to the mated female is also adaptive in that, given a situation suggesting a high probability of adultery (ie the presence of the model near the female) and assuming that replacement females are available, obtaining a new mate would enhance the fitness of males . . . The decline in male-female aggressiveness during incubation...
Стр. 20 - As working scientists in the field of evolutionary genetics and ecology, we have been attempting with some success to guide our own research by a conscious application of Marxist philosophy....
Стр. 4 - These theories provided an important basis for the enactment of sterilization laws and restrictive immigration laws by the United States between 1910 and 1930 and also for the eugenics policies which led to the establishment of gas chambers in Nazi Germany.
Стр. 134 - does not invoke a nonbiological 'environmentalism': it merely pits the concept of biological potentiality — a brain capable of the full range of human behaviors and rigidly predisposed toward none — against the idea of biological determinism...