>
> >Steve wrote:
> >
> >>> Because of these sharp
> >critiques, Wilson reinvented himself as an
> > >> environmentalist concerned about bio-diversity.
>
Brad replied:
> >If it is an excellent piece of Marxian sociology, why does it make
> >false claims about Wilson's intellectual development?
>
> >Either Steve does not know enough about E.O. Wilson to know that >he
> >was always *both* a sociobiologist and an environmentalist--in >which
> >I have better things to spend my time reading, things written by
> >people who have done their homework--or Steve knows that he is >lying
> >when he claims that Wilson's environmentalism is an intellectual
> >re-make--in which case I have better things to spend my time >reading,
> >things written by people who don't lie to me.
>
Brad, please know what you are saying. Nobody is a lier about Wilson's
intellectual development here. Steve is DOCUMENTING passages from Wilson's
book. Accordingly, he CITES Wilson who says that human nature "is
the_hereditary regularities of mental development that bias cultural evolution
in one direction_and thus connect the genes to culture" (p. 164). well, how do
you interpret this? just a naive bio-diversity or an objective scientific
statement?If you agree with what Wilson says, there is no point in continuing
this debate because my reading of him is that he is obviously racist. This is
because Wilson is reducing cultural and other social differences to genes, and
then reconstructing and universalizing an hypothetical theory of human nature,
which is completely false and ideological. Human beings are *not* determined by
their genes. They are shaped by the social, cultural, ideological and
political-economic environment they live in. As cross-cultural anthropological
studies further proves that many societies such as tribal bands, small
communities, ancient groupings did not have the same perceptions of masculinity
and feminity that we have today. these are socio-historical constructions, sex
roles, broadly defined, not genetic givens. the socio-biological claim that
people differ because they differ genetically is called RACISM, which is what
Wilson does eventually. thus, i don't understand why you support the man!
--
Mine Aysen Doyran
PhD Student
Department of Political Science
SUNY at Albany
Nelson A. Rockefeller College
135 Western Ave.; Milne 102
Albany, NY 12222
