Amazon.co.uk
Alas, Poor Darwin is a multidisciplinary collection of essays from Stephen Jay Gould, Patrick Bateson, Mary Midgely, Charles Jencks, Barbara Herrnstein Smith, Gabriel Dover and editors Hilary and Steven Rose, which aims to challenge what they see as the flawed premises and shaky empirical evidence supporting the claims of evolutionary psychology.
The main argument of the book is that "the claims of EP in the fields of biology, psychology, anthropology, sociology, cultural studies and philosophy are for the most part not merely mistaken, but culturally pernicious". What really upsets the contributors is the claim that the view of human nature held by evolutionary psychologists ought to inform the making of social and public policy.
As a whole the arguments against evolutionary psychology have real critical bite which is balanced by alternative views which appear to have a much closer tie to empirical reality. It is this which justifies the editorial claims of the book's importance. The weakness of the book--and particularly the introduction--is that it often fails to make any distinctions between the political views of the writers under discussion and the political meaning of their arguments. Thus evolutionary psychology--and all who are associated with it--is smeared by association with Nazi eugenics, religious fundamentalism, social Darwinism and, last but not least, sociobiology. The recent historical emergence of gene-centred views and even the emergence of the Darwin seminars based at the LSE is given a sinister, politically-motivated character which seems to be based on nothing more than innuendo. Yet despite the questionable cultural analysis this book is a must-read, of interest to specialists and interested lay-folk alike.--Larry Brown
-- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.
Amazon.com
Turf battles are always interesting and occasionally enlightening. Social scientists have been fairly slow in responding to the encroachment of biologically oriented evolutionary psychology, but they have come to mount a vigorous defense against what they perceive to be an oversimplified and dehumanizing theoretical scheme.
Alas, Poor Darwin, edited by sociologist Hilary Rose and neuroscientist Steven P.R. Rose, collects essays from scientists and social critics united in their disdain for the extremes of such EP proponents as Richard Dawkins and Edward O. Wilson. Though many writers rely on arguments based on our seemingly innate revulsion for determinism, often enough they rise up out of their easy rhetoric to score more legitimate points. Evolutionary theorist Stephen Jay Gould, for example, reprises his spandrel metaphor to show that not all biological features were forged in the fires of natural selection. Unfortunately, the reader has to wait until the book's end for the only critique of evolutionary psychology that is both thorough and scientific; Steven Rose's piece is engaging and challenging, pursuing the invaders back to their own territory using the only arguments they're likely to take seriously.
Alas, Poor Darwin won't fully satisfy any reader, but it will provoke thought, discussion, and probably more argument among all who are interested in the nature of human nature.
--Rob Lightner
