As Wilson wrote: “The evolutionary epic is probably the best myth we will ever have. Wilson describes On Human Nature as a sequel to his earlier books The Insect Societies (1971) and Sociobiology: The New Synthesis (1975). Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Edward O. But Wilson’s real achievement was to show how a sociobiological view of humanity could still have grandeur. He attempts to complete the Darwinian revolution by bringing biological thought into social sciences and humanities. The result was 1979’s Pulitzer Prize–winning On Human Nature, which explained how human behavior, how sex and war and love and religion, were driven by genetics and evolution. After Sociobiology, which focused mostly on nonhuman species, Wilson turned his full attention to people. Wilson, the Harvard biologist who got his start studying ant colonies, was on the front lines of this revolution, and his 1975 book Sociobiology was a founding text. We did not transcend our biology but were a product of it, with human nature the result of millions of years of evolution hardwired into our bodies and brains. But science, as the 20th century unfolded, had some hard news for us. We like to think we’re unique human beings, possessed of souls or free will and charting our own path through the universe.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |