The Guardian profiles E.O. Wilson
Posted 21 Aug 2012 / 0The Guardian “The Saturday interview: Harvard biologist Edward Wilson“
A Minor PostJerry Coyne refutes the E.O. Wilson NYT piece
Posted 27 Jun 2012 / 0Why Evolution is True “Did human social behavior evolve via group selection? E. O. Wilson defends that view in the NYT” Anyone who reads my posts here has learned that I find Jerry Coyne’s general tone to be really annoying and that I am predisposed to entertain group selective explanations of human behavior. But with Read More
A Minor Post, Cooperation, Group Selection, Human Evolution, Multilevel SelectionE.O. Wilson on the biological origins of sin and virtue
Posted 27 Jun 2012 / 0The New York Times Opinionator “Evolution and Our Inner Conflict“
A Minor Post, Evolutionary Psychology, Human Evolution, Human Nature, Psychological AdaptationNY Times provides perspective on E.O. Wilson’s “The Social Conquest of Earth”
Posted 13 Jun 2012 / 0The New York Times “Lessons from Ants to Grasp Humanity” Funny how the media likes to trot out Jerry Coyne whenever someone questions Darwinian orthodoxy. I cannot entirely blame Coyne for how he is quoted, but his quotes never seem to offer much a substantial critique. The bit on religion is interesting here: Wilson seems Read More
A Minor Post, Articles, Books, Cooperation, Group Selection, SuperorganismsRichard Dawkins on E.O. Wilson’s “The Social Conquest of Earth”
Posted 12 Jun 2012 / 0Prospect Magazine “The descent of Edward Wilson” First comment on this: what’s up with the ad hominem attacks on Wilson implying (not-so-subtly) that he is somehow slipping (look here for another example) in his old age? Given the massive departure that Dawkins has made from science in his writings on religion, he is the last one Read More
A Minor Post, Articles, Books, Cooperation, Group Selection, Human Evolution, Human Uniqueness, SuperorganismsDavid Sloan Wilson on Richard Dawkins on E.O. Wilson
Posted 12 Jun 2012 / 0The Huffington Post David Sloan Wilson blog “Richard Dawkins, Edward O. Wilson, and the Consensus of the Many” This is a very clear articulation of the history of multilevel selection. If only all biologists (in particular those who do not work in areas investigating altruistic behavior) could be compelled to read this; a lot of Read More
A Minor Post, Cooperation, Human Evolution, Human Uniqueness, Superorganisms, WebLarry Arnhart reviews E.O. Wilson’s “The Social Conquest of Earth”
Posted 21 May 2012 / 0Darwinian Conservatism “Darwinian Natural Right in E. O. Wilson’s New Book” One of the most interesting issues raised by this post has to do with “evolutionary ethics” and that question of whether there is a natural morality. I would caution against confusing this issue with the “naturalistic fallacy”, which to me has to do with Read More
A Minor Post, Cooperation, Ethics, Social Norms, Web