Defenders of the Truth: The Battle for Science in the Sociobiology Debate and Beyond (Hardcover)

by Ullica Segerstrale (Author) "This book is about different visions of science and different conceptions of the responsibility of a scientist..." (more)
Key Phrases: sociobiology controversy, innocent layman, gene selectionism, Maynard Smith, Sociobiology Study Group, The New York Times (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
How do scientists separate their politics from their work--or is such a distinction even possible? These questions frame the two levels of sociologist Ullica Segerstrale's analysis of the sociobiology controversy, Defenders of the Truth. From E.O. Wilson's 1975 publication of Sociobiology to his 1998 release of Consilience, he has consistently been the often-unwilling center of the vitriolic debate over human nature and its scientific study. Heavy hitters like Richard Dawkins, Stephen Jay Gould, and John Maynard Smith have lined up to attack and defend the scientific, political, and moral interpretations and implications of Wilson's synthesis, and Dr. Segerstrale tells a compelling story of their battles on multiple fronts. The author knows her science, having trained extensively in biochemistry before turning to sociology. While she distances herself from assessing the validity of the various claims, Segerstrale is clearly sympathetic to Wilson, who seems almost naïve at times when his ideas are interpreted ideologically rather than scientifically.

That, of course, is the heart of the contention surrounding sociobiology. The political left, well-represented among evolutionary biologists, has long considered any genetic influence on human behavior anathema--such theories are believed to support racist policies, even in the unlikely event that they were not merely reflections of racist attitudes. To their credit, many scientists held more complex beliefs, but some used the ideological argument as a back door to introduce their own neo-Darwinian scientific theories. The struggle for understanding has been eclipsed for some time by the struggle for political and academic survival and dominance, and Segerstrale reports and scrutinizes both with humor, intelligence, and aplomb. The end of the controversy--if there can be one--is far off, but a careful reading of Defenders of the Truth will give insight into the forces influencing our scientific self-examination. --Rob Lightner

From Publishers Weekly
In 1975, E.O. Wilson published Sociobiology, a study of evolution and animal societies; its last chapter called for attention to the Darwinian and genetic foundations of human behavior. The book produced prolonged contention among scientists and laypeople over morals, politics, genes, evolution, statistics, sex, race, "intelligence," evidence, truth, "human nature" and other hot-button topics. Why were they all so upset, and what can their arguments tell us? In a broad and detailed view of that intellectual firestorm along with its prequels and sequels, Segerstr?le--a professor of sociology at the Illinois Institute of Technology--shows how "a debate about the nature of science, the relationship of science to society, and the nature of acceptable knowledge was expressed as a conflict between individuals." Debaters revealed not just their political underpinnings but their beliefs and assumptions about what constitutes valid science, what counts as verification, as fact and as falsehood. Segerstr?le begins at the start of the clash, with Harvard titans Wilson and Richard Lewontin; backtracks to Britain in the mid-1960s, with a population biologist's investigations of altruism; and zooms forward to the "Science Wars" of the mid-1990s and the international slugfest over The Bell Curve. Partisans in these controversies will likely find something here to make them angry; they will also learn much they didn't know. Even those who might dispute Segerstr?le's conclusions will appreciate her assiduous chronology of these tangled issues and her accounts of what many of the participants thought they were doing in their "battle for the soul of science in one of the few fields where it might still be fought." (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 504 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (May 25, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198505051
• ISBN-13: 978-0198505051
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #990,738 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

108 of 122 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterful Historical and Interpretive Success, April 30, 2000

By	Herbert Gintis (Northampton, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This is a dense but well-written history of the sociobiology debates between E. O. Wilson, Richard Dawkins, John Maynard Smith and others on one side, and Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Lewontin, and Science for the People on the other. Most of the authors material was gather for her 1983 Ph.D. dissertation, but there is plenty of material from the mid to late 1990's as well.

Despite the length and degree of detail of the book, I found it difficult to skip even a page, so well is it written and so engaging is the author. It is hard to believe that she could still inject new insights in to the analysis 300 pages in to the book, but this she does, and repeatedly so.

The author has deep respect for the anti-sociobiologists, but she is clearly on the side of their critics. In this I believe she is correct. While my personal history is closer to that of the opponents (I was a Marxist and an anti-racist activist at the same time Gould, Lewontin, et al. were) I never had the slightest sympathy for their critique of E. O. Wilson (I read Sociobiology when it first came out and didn't even mind the infamous last chapter, though I though it was wrong---and it is), and their treatment of Maynard Smith, Dawkins, and more recently evolutionary psychology, is to mind simply silly and ignorant---the opponents may be great biologists, but they are third rate amateurs at understanding social theory and human sociality, in my opinion.

I'm sure there are lessons to be learned from this intellectual saga, but I must report that the greatest pleasure for me was to see great minds battle it out in public. Of course, behind the scenes scientists were slowly and patiently working out the real issues, and we are measurable better informed now that when this battle began in the mid-1970's. The sociobiologists and behavioral ecologists won the scientific war, though the enemy is still sniping away around the perimeter.

60 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Utterly brilliant, hugely entertaining., May 29, 2000

By	David Smillie (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

At the outset of her book, Segerstrale comes up with a marvelous (and hugely entertaining) overview of the sociobiology controversy as an opera. Everyone sings their part, the emotions and language is overwrought, alliances shift, and we (the audience) are eventually left drained from the experience. While her tongue is firmly in cheek, opera isn't a bad comparison. Because so much of the controversy over sociobiology today feels like a performance. One side setting up straw men to knock over in order to increase their own moral capital. The end result is the most human view of science I've ever encountered (human in the sense of "human frailty").

Because in the end, we see that the whole "sociobiology debate" wasn't really a scientific debate at all. The moral and political arguements were what created and drove the controversy all along. And Segerstrale reminds us all too strongly of something that's easily forgotten ... that science is (and will always be) a human pursuit. Driven by the same human emotions that drive all other pursuits. As Segerstrale herself says in the book's final words, two features often thought alien to science -- emotion and belief -- turn out to be omnipresent. They may not drive science, but they do drive scientists. And this book is a truly remarkable look at the controversy, the characters and the way science really works. It deserves to be read as widely as possible.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Assassins of an infant science, August 29, 2001

By	Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Segerstrale has done science and the reading public a tremendous service with this account of the "sociobiology wars." Two decades of interviews and a forty page bibliography are vivid testimony to her research abilities. However, this book isn't a just pedantic exercise. Her views of the participants impart a sincere personal account of how she views the collision of ideals among scientists. Segerstrale's approach is amazingly dispassionate. Her Introduction, a fine summary of the issues, states that "the participants are all defenders of the truth." Their views are adhered to passionately with Segerstrale presenting their assertions openly without comment. Later, when she analyzes their motivations, does background meaning become clear as to why this debate hasn't closed.

Sociobiology's path has been pretty bumpy during the generation since E.O. Wilson's book was published. Almost immediately a hue and cry arose from academics and the public alike. Segerstrale carefully presents the views of all the important participants, with special focus on Harvard's Richard Lewontin. It was Lewontin who characterized Wilson's book as "bad science" without suggesting what "good science" might be in addressing the issue. Even the "scientific traditions" of field naturalist versus laboratory experimentalists are examined in the debate's context. Adding to the complexity of personalities and methods is Segerstrale's ongoing discussion of the political status of the period. With race relations, women's issues and other social causes intruding on the scientific debate, the contenders avoid simple pigeonholing. Segerstrale goes to some length in presenting the debate in a broader social context and accomplishes it with finesse.

In the final analysis, it is E.O. Wilson who emerges vaguely from the fray with enhanced stature. While his critics appear mildly panic-stricken from the tenets of sociobiology, Wilson continued his work. Publishing several works embellishing his original ideas, he summarized his efforts and much of the debate in his autobiography, Naturalist. Wilson's critics over the years attacked his "facts" in a "utilitarian" sense - i.e., what impact does a scientific find have on society. As a field researcher, Wilson found this interpretation of science disquieting. The issue then, wasn't "bad science" but "bad interpretation" of scientific results. Segerstrale's analysis of this issue makes compelling reading, bringing the book to a well-structured conclusion. Those wishing to understand what the sociobiology debate [not the science itself] is all about should obtain this book. It's a stunning resource. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]