Sociobiology

Die Neolithische Revolution im Vorderen Orient (12.000 - 6.000 v. Ztr.)

by Ingo Bading, M.A.

draft only / Entwurf

Seminararbeit für den Anthropologischen Kurs II (Populationsstrukturen) von PD Dr. Winfried Henke, Universität Mainz, SS 1995

(ursprünglicher Titel: "Populationsstrukturen und Tranistions-Vorgänge im Levanteraum vom Epi-Paläolithikum zum PPNB".)

Ein Überblick über den vorwiegend archäologischen Forschungsstand des Jahres 1995 zur Neolithischen Revolution im... more Ein Überblick über den vorwiegend archäologischen Forschungsstand des Jahres 1995 zur Neolithischen Revolution im Vorderen Orient zwischen 12.000 und 6.000 v. Ztr..

Im hinteren Teil ein tastender Versuch, das soziobiologische Paradigma der Verwandten-Selektion auf die Evolution erster, einfacher arbeitsteiliger Gesellschaften anzuwenden.

Achtung, etwas eigenwilliger Nachweis der Herkunft der Abbildungen, Abbildungsverzeichnis fehlt!

Homo sapiens, una especie más del paisaje terrestre: El humano instintivo, en los ámbitos de la biosfera, la tecnosfera y la noosfera.

by Dennis Sigfried Guerra Centeno

Biological Fatalism: The Politics of (De)Naturalising Conflict and (De)Problematising Cooperation

by Adam Goodwin

Draft only. Currently re-working for publication.

This paper aims to critique the naturalizing function of realist thought, especially in its newest... more This paper aims to critique the naturalizing function of realist thought, especially in its newest incarnation—biological realism. In doing so, it will also offer an alternative perspective of how naturalizing behaviour counterintuitive to realist thought may affect world politics. Exploring and grounding our origins, whether it be through older theological origin myths or newer biological evolutionary theory, has played a key role to understanding our nature (Dupré, 2003). Many authors have worked to legitimate this exploratory enterprise with scientific approaches (See Gat ,2009; Thayer, 2000, 2004; Shaw and Wong, 1985a; Fukuyama ,1999), including anthropology, and the biosciences. However, their use of these scientific fields is limited and fails to acknowledge alternative perspectives and general critiques. There is also a dangerous political element in the attempt to naturalise certain human behaviour—in terms of realism, it indelibly affects policy through the perfusion of academically-derived assumptions among policy makers and the general public (Freyberg-Inan, 2004). I introduce Kropotkin‟s Mutual Aid Theory (Kropotkin, 1902) as constituting the heart of dissenting views to counter this realist trend to naturalise aggression. Mutual Aid Theory, if accepted as political „commonsense‟ as realism has come to be, offers a radically different perspective to engage with/against politics.

Ce qui est beau... est bien!: psycho-sociobiologie de la beauté

by Guy Tiberghien

Homo sapiens, una especie más del paisaje terrestre: El humano instintivo, en los ámbitos de la biosfera, la tecnosfera y la noosfera.

by Dennis Sigfried Guerra Centeno

Westermarck Hypothesis Reconsidered

by Fadwa El Guindi

Fadwa El Guindi, co-authored with Dwight W. Read, published in Current Anthropology

Ising Model for Sociobiology: Critical phenomena in cultural propagation.

by Jesus Martinez Linares

Marie Curie Fellowship Workshop "Innovation in the Biosciences", Colworth UK (2000).

The propagation of cultural correlations in a chimpanzee populations resembles in some aspects spin correlations. We... more The propagation of cultural correlations in a chimpanzee populations resembles in some aspects spin correlations. We contruct an Ising model for the system which illustrates how physical ideas about phase transtitions and critical phenomena can be transported to the stufy of sudden emergence of conductual patterns in socio-biology.

Dawkins and Morality

by Adrian Kumarasingham

Comment on Irwin Silverman: Sociobiology and sociopolitics

by Franz Seifert

published 1996, in Social science information 35 (1): 133-136

Wie man die menschliche Natur besser nicht in die Sozialwissenschafen einführen sollte.

by Franz Seifert

Österreichische Zeitschrift fur Soziologie, 2004, 29, 1, 93-100

Kotrschal's (2003) contribution offers an all too rare dialogue within the German-speaking realm about "human... more Kotrschal's (2003) contribution offers an all too rare dialogue within the German-speaking realm about "human nature." While such a discussion deserves more open & interdisciplinary notice, it was not conducted in an appropriate manner. It is not the polemic style or the basic issues, but rather, the ideological & epistemological self-certainty, the failure to recognize the investigative topics of social sciences, & the overestimation of the relevance of the biological evolutionary paradigm for the social & human sciences toward which these remarks are directed. Additionally, the cultural & political significance of this paradigm is changing, as seen in the increase in technical possibilities & secular sociopolitical developmental trends, leading to the "privatization" of human nature. Therefore, even the social sciences will need to establish a productive dialogue with the biological disciplines. L. Kehl.

Ficción narrativa y Evolución

by José Angel García Landa

Narrative Fiction and Evolution
   
This is a review, in Spanish, of Steven Pinker's essay... more Narrative Fiction and Evolution
   
This is a review, in Spanish, of Steven Pinker's essay "Toward a Consilient Study of Literature", which is itself a review of and a response to the theories expounded in the collection on literary sociobiology "The Literary Animal", edited by Jonathan Gottschall and David Sloan Wilson. Some insights and limitations of cultural darwinism are here examined from the point of view of emergentist philosophy, anthropology and philology, complementing Pinker's psychological critique.

Keywords: Evolution, Pinker, Consilience, Fiction, Narrative, Sociobiology

Some anthropological objections to evolutionary psychology

by christopher hallpike

The weakness of adaptive explanations

by christopher hallpike

It's Sociobiology, Hon!

by Amy Hasinoff

Hasinoff, A. A. (2009) Feminist Media Studies, 9 (3), pp. 267-283.

Though the heated scientific debate that sociobiology initially generated has largely subsided, speculation on the... more Though the heated scientific debate that sociobiology initially generated has largely subsided, speculation on the genetic basis of social behaviors remains a thriving academic discipline and provides valuable content that can be easily translated into compelling newspaper articles, popular magazines, and self-help mass market paperbacks. In Cosmopolitan magazine, statements reflecting the genetic gender-determinism of sociobiology appear in offhand remarks, personal anecdotes, and in lengthy quotations attributed to experts with PhDs. My textual analysis of this sociobiological common sense in Cosmopolitan articles from 1995–2005 represents an in-depth case study of the migration of gender-related science to a popular culture venue for women. I examine the sociobiological theory that norms of female attractiveness advertise reproductive capacity, drawing connections between scholarly works, popular self-help literature, and Cosmopolitan articles. The magazine invokes sociobiological logic to explain and legitimate the laborious techniques of femininity, positioning the female body as a commodity in the marketplace of evolved male desire and reducing it to the signs—real or cosmetically simulated—that reveal the body's underlying reproductive value. I also investigate how Cosmopolitan uses sociobiological common sense about men to construct, exaggerate, and excuse their bad behavior, requiring women to solve or tolerate it. Sociobiology responds to gender inequalities by offering a seemingly rational scientific model asserting that existing gender norms and differences are natural and inevitable.

Nature and Society

by Byron Kaldis

http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415548250/

Evolutionary psychology: An emerging integrative perspective within the science and practice of psychology

by Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair

The Human Nature Review 2002 Volume 2: 17-61

Evolutionary Psychology (EP) is an emerging integrative approach to the study of Human Nature, founded upon... more Evolutionary Psychology (EP) is an emerging integrative approach to the study of Human Nature, founded upon evolutionary biological theory and cognitive science. This article evaluates the theoretical foundations and implications of EP from a Scientist-Practitioner perspective. EP is contrasted with its antecedent, human sociobiology, and theoretical differences are discussed. Cosmides & Tooby’s EP is described; including EP’s model of mind, the need for a computational theory and how this is provided by functional adaptationism, the strategic modelling of the past needed to make evolutionary inferences, and the role of present ontogenetic environment on the development and function of adaptations. The adaptationist approach to Human Nature is controversial; therefore the scientific validity of this approach is evaluated; the critique is not found convincing. The perceived paradox of EP’s focus compared with behavioral genetics and comparative psychology is resolved. The compatibility between learning psychology and EP is addressed. Finally EP’s implications for the mainstream academic fields of psychology - cognitive, social, developmental, and personality psychology - and to the practice of clinical psychology - Evolutionary Psychopathology - are considered. EP is a growing, influential and promising field of study, and potentially a unifying theory of psychology.

Keywords: Evolutionary Psychology - Human Nature - Modular Mind - Human Sociobiology - Adaptationism - Scientist-Practitioner - Evolutionary Psychopathology

Doden dieren alleen om te overleven? (Do Animals Only Kill for Survival?)

by Titus Rivas

Published in Gezond Idee!, Fall 2002, nr. 55, p. 26.

An ethological interpretation of line fighting.

by Glenn King

Presented to the 1998 annual meeting of the International Society for Human Ethology. Argues that organized confrontations with simple weapons have a basis in primate behavior and have a pleasurable motivational component.

Human beings as evolved nepotists: Exceptions to the rule and effects of cost of help

by Steve Stewart-Williams

Human Nature

Altruism among kin vs. nonkin: Effects of cost of help and reciprocal exchange

by Steve Stewart-Williams

Evolution and Human Behavior