Research topic: Edward Osborne Wilson

Edward Osborne Wilson 1929-, American sociobiologist, b. Birmingham, Ala. Founder of sociobiology , Wilson argued in his controversial Sociobiology: The New Synthesis (1975) that all human behavior, including altruism , is genetically based, and therefore "selfish." He later called for careful study of "gene-cultural co-evolution." Critics have called sociobiology a dangerously reductive determinism that could be used to defend notions of racial superiority and eugenics ; others have defended Wilson's evidence and biological reasoning. Wilson's On Human Nature (1978)... Read more