is dedicated to the acceptance, medical treatment, and legal protection of individuals correcting the misalignment of their brains and their anatomical sex, while supporting their transition into society.
Join The Flow!
TS-Si supports
open access to
publicly funded research
| Leading Sociobiology Out Of The Theoretical Wilderness |
 |
 |
| SciMed - Horizons | |||
| TS-Si News Service | |||
| Wednesday, 16 July 2008 17:00 | |||
  Sociobiology evaluates the possible evolutionary advantages of social behavior (in all species). The sociobiological domain is a neo-Darwinian synthesis of biology and sociology that also draws from anthropology, archaeology, ethology, evolution, population genetics zoology, and other disciplines. Researchers investigate social behaviors, such as mating patterns, territorial fights, pack hunting, and the hive society of social insects. Applied to nonhumans, sociobiology is relatively noncontroversial. Evolutionary biologists note that selection pressure led animal evolution toward useful ways of interacting with the natural environment. Sociobiology has become one of the greatest scientific controversies of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, especially in the context of explaining human behavior. Sociobiologists posit the genetic evolution of advantageous social behavior. Within the study of human societies, sociobiology is closely related to the fields of human behavioral ecology and evolutionary psychology. Criticism of sociobiology centers on a contention that genes play a central role in human behavior and that variation in traits such as aggressiveness can be explained by variations in biology and not necessarily as a product of social environment. In response, anthropologist John Tooby and psychologist Leda Cosmides launched evolutionary psychology as a branch of sociobiology made less controversial by avoiding questions of human biodiversity. Many sociobiologists today cite a complex relationship between nature and nurture. This anticipated the future discipline of Sociobiology, an attempted synthesis of scientific disciplines that can explain behavior in all species by considering the evolutionary advantages of social behaviours: the theory of group selection.
Rethinking the Theoretical Foundation of Sociobiology. Wilson, David Sloan and Edward O.Wilson. The Quarterly Review of Biology 82(4):327-48.
[ Download PDF ]
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was an English biologist and one of several scientists considering theories of evolution.
Darwin published On the Origin of Species (1859), which set forth his theory that animals evolved through variation and natural selection of those most fit to survive in particular environments.
Darwin did not totally keep his distance from the social, racial and religious consequences of his theories, but participated in the debate. In Sexual Selection And The Descent of Man (1871) he applied his theory directly to the question of human beings.
Although a high standard of morality gives but a slight or no advantage to each individual man and his children over the other men of the same tribe … an advancement in the standard of morality will certainly give an immense advantage to one tribe over another. — Charles Darwin.
However, a century after Darwin published his famous passage, explanations based on group selection had become taboo and did not recover.
For evolutionary biologists, an allele (/əˈliːl/; Gr. αλληλος allelos — each other) is one member of a pair or series of different forms of a gene. Group selection is the idea that alleles can become fixed or spread in a population because of the benefits they bestow on groups, without regard to how the allele may affect the firness of individuals within that group.
For decades, group selection was used as a popular explanation for evolutionary adaptations, but critics cast serious doubts on it as a major mechanism of evolution. While some scientists continued their pursuit of the idea. There has been a resurgence of interest in group selection, but only as a phenomenon that emerges from standard models of selection.
 In a landmark article for The Quarterly Review of Biology, Rethinking the Theoretical Foundation of Sociobiology, evolutionary scientists David Sloan Wilson and Edward O. Wilson — whose Sociobiology: The New Synthesis brought widespread attention to the field in 1975 — call for an end to forty years of confusion and divergent theories.
Wilson and Wilson trace much of the confusion in the field to the 1960’s. In those days, most evolutionists rejected “for the good of the group” thinking and insisted that all adaptations must be explained in terms of individual self-interest. In an even more reductionistic move, genes were called “the fundamental unit of selection,” as if this was an argument against group selection.
Scientific dogma became entrenched in popular culture with the publication of Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene (1976). Although evidence in favor of group selection began accumulating almost immediately after its rejection, its taboo status prevented a systematic re-evaluation of the field until now. The authors say:
In their new publication, Wilson and Wilson attempt a new consensus and theoretical foundation that can reset the basis for sociobiology. Based on current theory and evidence, they argue for natural selection as a unequivocally multilevel process.
The authors conclude by paraphrasing Rabbi Hillel: “Selfishness beats altruism within groups. Altruistic groups beat selfish groups. Everything else is commentary.”
The TS-Si News Service is a collaborative effort by TS-Si.org editors, contributors, and corresponding institutions. The sources can include the cited individuals and organizations, as well as TS-Si.org staff contributions. Articles and news reports do not necessarily convey official positions of TS-Si, its partners, or affiliates. We welcome your comments. Use the form below to leave a public comment or send private correspondence via the TS-Si Contact Page. We will not divulge any personal details or place you on a mailing list without your permission.                       Add this page to your favorite social bookmarking websites. To create link towards this article on your website, copy and paste the text below in your page. Preview :
Set as favorite
Email This
Comments (0)
 Write comment
|
|||
| Last Updated on Wednesday, 16 July 2008 15:25 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
The TS-Si News Service
and the TS-Si Research Service
are collaborations of TS-Si officials, staff, contributors, and corresponding institutions. Contents do not necessarily convey official positions of
TS-Si, its partners, or its affiliates. 