For the record, the Steve referred to below is Steve Rosenthal, not me...
Steve (The "PEN Steve")
Stephen Philion
Lecturer/PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
2424 Maile Way
Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
Honolulu, HI 96822
On Sat, 8 Apr 2000, Mine Aysen Doyran wrote:
> >
>
> > >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
>
>
