1975: Sociobiology - The book of science

Sociobiology
Nature versus nurture
Ants
Commentary

Sociobiology

E. O. Wilson didn’t invent sociobiology,
but he wrote the textbook on it,
asserting that social behaviors have evolved
as have physical traits,
but he raisied controversy by his application
of sociobiology to human societies,
showing that even humans have instinctual behaviors,
and that kin or group selection supports altruism.

Nature versus nurture

Cultural universals suggest
something is natural
about many human behaviors.
Some thought that what
made humankind human
was the lack of instinctual behavior.
Behavioralists taught
they could train anyone to do anything
whatsoever when they grew up.
Others maybe didn’t want
to give anything credit
other than their own efforts.

Biologists and sociologists criticized E. O. Wilson’s textbook by rejecting biological determinism, which can steer too close to eugenics, even though Wilson claimed that only a tenth of human behavior was determined by genes. Others criticized Wilson for his theme that evolution is progressive, called orthogenesis, which its original proponents described as an alternative to Darwin’s theory of natural selection.