Richard Lewontin
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| - | '''Sociobiology''' is a [[Neo-Darwinism|neo-Darwinian]] [[synthesis]] of [[scientific]] disciplines that attempts to explain [[social behavior]] in all [[species]] by considering the [[evolutionary]] advantages the behaviors may have. It is often considered a branch of [[biology]] and [[sociology]], but also draws from [[ethology]], [[anthropology]], [[evolution]], [[zoology]], [[archaeology]], [[population genetics]] and other disciplines. Within the study of human [[society|societies]], sociobiology is closely related to the fields of [[human behavioral ecology]] and [[evolutionary psychology]]. | ||
| - | Sociobiology investigates social behaviors, such as mating patterns, territorial fights, pack hunting, and the hive society of social insects. Just as selection pressure led to animals evolving useful ways of interacting with the natural environment, it led to the genetic evolution of advantageous social behavior. Applied to nonhumans, sociobiology is noncontroversial. | + | '''Richard Charles "Dick" Lewontin''' (born March 29, 1929) is an [[United States|American]] [[evolutionary biologist]], [[geneticist]] and [[social commentator]]. A leader in developing the [[mathematical]] basis of [[population genetics]] and evolutionary theory, he pioneered the notion of using techniques from [[molecular biology]] such as [[gel electrophoresis]] to apply to questions of [[genetic variation]] and evolution. |
| - | Sociobiology has become one of the greatest scientific [[controversy|controversies]] of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, especially in the context of explaining human behavior. Criticism, most notably made by [[Richard Lewontin]] and [[Stephen Jay Gould]], centers on sociobiology's contention that [[genes]] play a central role in human behavior and that variation in traits such as aggressiveness can be explained by variation in peoples' biology and is not necessarily a product of the person's social environment. Many sociobiologists, however, cite a complex relationship between [[nature and nurture]]. In response to the controversy, anthropologist [[John Tooby]] and psychologist [[Leda Cosmides]] launched [[evolutionary psychology]] as a branch of sociobiology made less controversial avoiding questions of human biodiversity. | + | In a pair of 1966 papers co-authored with [[J.L. Hubby]] in the journal ''[[Genetics (journal)|Genetics]]'', Lewontin helped set the stage for the modern field of [[molecular evolution]]. |
| - | ==See also== | + | |
| - | ; Concepts: | + | In 1979 he and [[Stephen Jay Gould]] introduced the term "[[spandrel (biology)|spandrel]]" into [[evolutionary theory]]. A spandrel is an evolved biological feature which arises as the result of the modification of another trait. |
| - | * [[Biocultural anthropology]] | + | |
| - | * [[Biosocial theory]] | + | Lewontin strongly opposes [[genetic determinism]], especially as allegedly expressed by [[sociobiology]] and [[evolutionary psychology]]. |
| - | * [[Cultural selection theory]] | + | |
| - | * [[Dual inheritance theory]] | + | |
| - | * [[Ethics and evolutionary psychology]] | + | |
| - | * [[Evolutionary psychology]] | + | |
| - | * [[Evolutionary developmental psychology]] | + | |
| - | * [[Human behavioral ecology]] | + | |
| - | * [[Iterated prisoner's dilemma]] | + | |
| - | * [[Kin selection]] | + | |
| - | * [[Prisoner's dilemma]] | + | |
| - | * [[Social evolution]] | + | |
| - | * [[Sociophysiology]] | + | |
| - | * [[Evolutionary ethics]] | + | |
| - | ; Well-known sociobiologists: | ||
| - | * [[Richard Dawkins]] | ||
| - | * [[Edward O. Wilson]] | ||
| - | * [[W. D. Hamilton]] | ||
| - | * [[Robert Trivers]] | ||
| - | * [[George C. Williams]] | ||
| - | * [[Sarah Blaffer Hrdy]] | ||
| - | * [[Richard Machalek]] | ||
| - | * [[Steven Pinker]] | ||
| - | * [[Francois Nielsen]] | ||
| - | ; Books: | ||
| - | * ''[[Sociobiology: The New Synthesis]]'' by [[E. O. Wilson]], 1975 | ||
| - | * ''[[The Blank Slate|The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature]]'' by [[Steven Pinker]] | ||
| - | * ''[[The Selfish Gene]]'' by [[Richard Dawkins]] | ||
| - | * ''[[Not In Our Genes|Biology, Ideology and Human Nature: Not In Our Genes]]'' by [[Richard Lewontin]], [[Steven Rose]] & [[Leon Kamin]] | ||
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Revision as of 20:17, 12 December 2010
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Richard Charles "Dick" Lewontin (born March 29, 1929) is an American evolutionary biologist, geneticist and social commentator. A leader in developing the mathematical basis of population genetics and evolutionary theory, he pioneered the notion of using techniques from molecular biology such as gel electrophoresis to apply to questions of genetic variation and evolution.
In a pair of 1966 papers co-authored with J.L. Hubby in the journal Genetics, Lewontin helped set the stage for the modern field of molecular evolution.
In 1979 he and Stephen Jay Gould introduced the term "spandrel" into evolutionary theory. A spandrel is an evolved biological feature which arises as the result of the modification of another trait.
Lewontin strongly opposes genetic determinism, especially as allegedly expressed by sociobiology and evolutionary psychology.
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