The Darwin Wars: The Scientific Battle for the Soul of Man [Paperback]

Andrew Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 2001

Evolutionary theory is now one of the main myths of our time. It has to bear the weight of most of our hopes and fears about what being human really means. And for over twenty years it has been riven by a holy war, conducted with an extraordinary fury that reverberates far outside the walls of academe. The two scientific camps are currently divided between 'Dawkinsians' on the one hand who may not agree with Richard Dawkins about very much but are convinced Stephen Jay Gould is dangerously wrong, and the 'Gouldians' on the other hand who take the opposite views. But who is right, or wrong, and what does it all mean? The Darwin Wars is an entertaining and lucid account of the evolution of today's neo-Darwinist theories, including the hugely influential Selfish Gene theory, and the misunderstandings and even deep hatreds that they provoke. With wit and insight, Andrew Brown puts in context the wide-reaching debate and explains its real significance for us all. For just as Darwinism now provides the main explanatory framework of our times, so disputes about Darwinism are really disputes about our very nature and place in the world

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Brown writes like an angel" -- The Independent, London

Brown is a wonderful writer, giving the reader a front-row seat on the proceedings. -- Irish Times, 1 May 1999

Brown succeeds in writing a personality-driven story which is in fact the best guide to current theories considered here, -- The Guardian, London, April 3 1999

Good science writing is in a class of its own, with an irreplaceable value. -- Science, 1 April 1999

Is Brown's book one more "sleazy bit of trash journalism"? I don't think so, -- Nature, 1 April 1999 (David Hull)

From the Inside Flap

Steven Rose I read the book in one sitting last night - enjoyed it especially the penultimate chapter on religion which is spot on ... incidentally you use the term Darwinism without really explaining what you mean by it - I was sorry you hadn't taken on board some of the deconstruction of that term I tried in Lifelines. As you will anticipate you will put some noses out of joint (I guess especially Lewontin and Wilson!) by grouping the participants into Gouldites and Dawkinsites, but I suppose its fair game.

Mary Midgley Hey, I really like that book. Thanks for sending it -- how about you having a chair in the Sociology of Feuding? As for my shoes, I'll put you in a book some day.

Ian Pitchford The book is a splendid piece of work which is obviously going to be an international best seller. I bought your book yesterday and read it straight through as I just couldn't put it down. As you might expect I think neo-Darwinism is one of the most important stories, and chief triumphs, of the century.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (October 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743203437
• ISBN-13: 978-0743203432
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,457,399 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Illuminating, and the power of this writing sneaks up on you, January 24, 2002

By 

Todd I. Stark "Cellular Wetware plus Books" (Philadelphia, Pa USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Darwin Wars: The Scientific Battle for the Soul of Man (Paperback)

I read this book through twice. Not because it was difficult, it is actually very easy reading considering the depth of some of the topics covered. I read it twice because after the first time I was amazed that things I thought I already knew about had become so much clearer in my mind, and I was wondering how he did it !

Brown cuts right to the most interesting aspects of each controversy in evolutionary theory, makes each side clear, and all the while places each controversy into larger perspective in a coherent narrative from the first page to the last. It would be very difficult to read this book without coming away bubbling with ideas about it; which is a way the author describes Richard Dawkins' books; but I think it applies just as well to Brown.

I was particularly impressed with how the author managed to make his presentations of some very technical points so very clear without resorting to pedantry at any point, and at the same time gave a vivid picture of the personalities and their motivations without reducing them to charicatures or elevating them to icons. The power of Andrew Brown's straightforward conversational writing is very misleading and sneaks up on you, he teaches a great deal here without you realizing you are being taught.

The journey here beings appropriately with the very thing that makes sociobiology most uncomfortable: the startling mathematical discovery that selfless behavior could in principle evolve through natural selection. If even our lofty ideals are the product of an algorithmic process in nature, our view of ourselves is fundamentally tainted somehow, a conclusion of no small importance as Brown dramatizes with the tragic suicide of theorist George Price. The important thing that Brown recognizes that many authors miss is that evolutionary theory doesn't tell us we are selfish, it tells us something much more horrible ... that even when we act selflessly it is a result of our animal nature, not a matter of transcending our animal nature.

There is an excellent presentation of the different sides of several important sociobiological controversies, and oen of the best discussions of memes and their implications that I've ever come across.

Most notably, Andrew Brown does not just point out where he disagrees with some of the ideas, but offers positive alternatives to persue that avoid the pitfalls. He offers the Aquatic Ape theory as a perfect example of good adaptationist thinking whether it is true or not, and offers David Hull's excellent "Science as a Process" as a foundational text for a potential true science of memetics.

If you have any interest at all in the application of evolutionary theory to human beings, I think this book is required basic reading. Another excellent choice covering much of the same territory in a different way is Kim Sterelny's "Dawkins vs. Gould." That gives a more technical coverage of the controversies for those who want better depth. Also, for a more complete coverage of the personalities and early history of sociobiology, try "Defenders of the Truth" by Segerstrale.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Next time Brown should test the water before diving in, May 7, 2002

By 

"michaeleve" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Darwin Wars: The Scientific Battle for the Soul of Man (Paperback)

Evolutionary psychology, sociobiology, and evolutionary biology in general are subjects whose temperatures are way above comfortably warm. You can get scorched by plunging in unprepared. You guarantee this if you decide to move beyond "nature vs nurture" and extend the debate to the moral, ethical, and (scalding now) - the religious implications of science.

Brown's opening chapter hints at where he intends to go with the argument. He discusses the sad ending of George Price's life. Price was a brilliant biologist, who through work on the evolution of altruism, developed a mathematical formula that proved that human nature was grounded in selfishness. Brown says that "through algebra, George Price had found proof or original sin." Price's story illustrates the changed nature of THE DARWIN WARS as it is now less about scientific differences but more about philosophical issues. Brown argues that there has been a shift in interest in what is now considered important. Thus his subtitle that this is "The Scientific Battle for the Soul of Man". This is the framework into which he places the competing scientists. Brown creates two camps - the "Dawkinsians" and the "Gouldians", named after of course Richard Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould. Brown does a reasonable enough job of explaining the differences between the two groups. He then spends a chapter discussing the adaptive benefits of religious belief and whether or not they are "viruses of the mind" He says they're not.

I give Brown credit for being balanced in his analysis and incredibly open to contending views. I think his book is unique in this respect. His divergent philosophical positions with well known thinkers on this subject have led to strong words. Give Brown full marks for publishing Daniel C Dennett's comment about Brown's work - "what a sleazy bit of trash journalism" - right there on the book's cover jacket. That's way too strong a remark, but overall the book does fall down a bit in making it's case for a philosophical interpretation of the "wars". Also when discussing religion, Brown makes a hash of the distinction between popular beliefs and theology.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy reading, but well researched, May 13, 2005

By 

A. J. Cornish Bowden (Marseilles, France) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Darwin Wars: The Scientific Battle for the Soul of Man (Paperback)

Ever since biologists such as Edward O. Wilson and Richard Dawkins first popularized the idea that human psychology might be explainable in Darwinian terms, they encountered fierce opposition, not only from sociologists brought up on the "standard model" whereby the mind is a blank slate, but also, and less obviously, from other biologists, such as Stephen J. Gould and Richard Lewontin, who saw evolutionary psychology as genetic determinism. The battles between different groups of biologists, whom Andrew Brown characterizes as Dawkinsians and Gouldians (while recognizing that nobody will be happy with these names: "this won't please anyone involved"), were remarkably vicious, full of ill will on both sides, and, for anyone who was not emotionally engaged in the struggle, entertaining to read about. Andrew Brown has risen warmly to the challenge, and has written a very readable book about them.

He is a journalist, and has a journalist's ability to write clearly and well, but, far more than that, he has a scholar's ability to check his facts and to get them right, and to present opinions that he does not necessarily agree with in a fair and balanced way. He interviewed many of the participants, and appears to have established friendly relations with everyone he spoke to. He has also studied the biological and philosophical aspects with care, and his opinions are worthy of respect. Only occasionally does he lapse into unsupported assertions, as, for example, when he writes "Is the difference in the striping of Burchell's and Grevy's zebra a result of different selection pressures in the different parts of Africa where these species originated, or, as is more likely, was there simply a selection for striping to which the genotypes of the two species responded differently?" With his "as is more likely" he seems to be assuming the point that he ought to be arguing.

Brown devotes several pages to a sympathetic examination of Elaine Morgan's views on the aquatic origins of humanity, ultimately coming the conclusion that they cannot be completely correct, but nonetheless treating them with far more respect than some of her critics have done. He also almost manages the superhuman feat of presenting Mary Midgley in a favourable light -- she of the "up till now I have not attended to Dawkins, thinking it unnecessary to break a butterfly upon a wheel."

As Brown notes, the Darwin wars have been quite separate from the battles with creationists, all of the participants he writes about being evolutionists, all of them regarding themselves as being in the tradition of Darwin. All of them, therefore, have been non-religious, and in some cases on the Dawkinsian side extremely hostile to religion, with an almost religious, and certainly fundamentalist, fervour in their attacks on Christianity. Brown describes himself as an atheist, albeit one who worked as the religious correspondent of a newspaper in the years before undertaking the book, but he considers that intolerant atheism can be as harmful to human freedom as intolerant religious fundamentalism. By the end of the book, therefore, one feels that although he is more of a Dawkinsian than a Gouldian he is far from being wholly on one side or the other.

It is interesting to compare The Darwin Wars with Defenders of the Truth, another book written on the same subject at about the same time by Ullica Segerstråle. The two books cover much the same ground, but Segerstråle's is much longer (about twice the length, if one allows for the larger amount of text on each page), and is written from the point of view of an academic sociologist rather than that of a journalist. She shares Brown's concern with seeing both sides of the dispute, with getting her facts right, and with presenting the different points of view in a fair way. Both books are excellent, and both are essential reading if one is interested in the subject. Neither mentions the other, but they were being written at the same time, and published at much the same time, so neither author is likely to have had access to the other's work while writing.