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C00002 00002	lewont[s85,jmc]		Review of Lewontin's Not in our genes
C00005 00003		The most interesting animal to mankind is man, and the debate
C00006 00004	The main factor limiting the application of the methods of
C00008 00005	Points to get over.
C00010 00006	Just So Stories
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lewont[s85,jmc]		Review of Lewontin's Not in our genes

	Darwin's 1859 {\it Origin of the Species} met an immediate
positive response from the political left.  They were already
enthusiastic about science and also took evolution as another
scientific ally in their battle with religion.  Marx and Engels
in particular were enthusiastic Darwinians as applied to biology,
even that of humans.  While their ideas of the evolution of
society did not take a Darwinian form, they didn't consider
this a matter of disagreement.

	Ever since about the 1920s there has been an ideological
battle about the applicability of the concepts of biology to
human beings.

	Reading all this makes one feel a bit sad and inclined
to say with Admiral Dewey at Manila Bay, ``Don't cheer boys, the
poor devils are dying".

Edward O. Wilson, The Sociogenesis of Insect Colonies, Science 1985 June 28

``The study of social insects is by necessity both a reductionistic
and holistic enterprise.  The behavior of the colony can be understood
only of the programs and positional effects of the individual members
can be teased apart, ultimately at the physiological level.  But this
information makes full sense only when the patterns of colonial  behavior
of each species are examined as potential idiosyncratic adaptations to the
natural environment in which the species lives.''
	The most interesting animal to mankind is man, and the debate
about the relative importance of heredity and environment long
predates science.

reductionism
Human heredity
pre-Darwin
Darwin
eugenics
Marxism and the left
equality of opportunity and equality of result
The present authors are unsure of what they believe, but their ideas
of who the bad guys are are entirely firm.
Just So Stories
half assed Marxism
their own just so story
The main factor limiting the application of the methods of
sociobiology to man is that long ago human biology reached te
point that made social evolution possible, and social evolution
seems to proceed 1,000 times as fast as biological evolution.
However, raising this point leaves one in danger of violating
the tabu against ``social Darwinism''.

At least since Rousseau, it has been taken as an argument in favor
of some practice that it was ``natural''.  This doesn't follow at
all.  We humans, both as individuals and in different societies,
may well prefer to run our lives in a way that isn't ``natural''.
Indeed the idea coming from religion that man is naturally sinful
and has to correct himself by effort may be closer to the truth.

It is also important to note that humans are capable (with frequent
lapses) of objective scientific thought and disinterested moral
argument.
Points to get over.

1. the decay of Marxism

2. Just So stories

3. It would be interesting to know to what extent all the controversy
has held up progress.

4. Leftist tact

This is an angry book, and I don't use {\it angry} as a term of praise.

5. Whether the criticism of specific studies is correct is a matter
for specialists in these fields to fight out.  Of course, when a
policy decision that depends on a scientific issue is to be made,
laymen in the specific field may have to decide who are the experts
and which of them to believe.  However, we have a further obligation
to help keep the scientific atmosphere free of intimidation.

In this field there has recently certainly been intimidation aimed at
discouraging reaching hereditarian conclusions.  As a result only
relatively thick skinned, even heroic, people dare pursue hereditarian
hypotheses.  Others find something else to work on.

6. But what if the eugenicists were right?
In my position I don't see the world as overwhelmed by stupid people.
Rather I see an acute shortage of people smart enough to do a first
class job in the positions they hold.  And this is even with America
benefiting from the brain drain.
Just So Stories

	Theorists of evolution accuse each other of telling ``Just So
Stories'', after Kipling.