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E.O. Wilson: Three Reasons Why E.O. Wilson is Considered Taboo in Anthropology?

E.O. Wilson: Three Reasons Why E.O. Wilson is Considered Taboo in Anthropology?. By: Francisco Quinones. A (VERY) Brief History of the Split: Anthropology & Sociology. A Brief History of the Split (Cont’). 1830 Auguste Comte (founder of sociology) writes, “The Course of Positive Philosophy”.

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E.O. Wilson: Three Reasons Why E.O. Wilson is Considered Taboo in Anthropology?

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  1. E.O. Wilson: Three Reasons Why E.O. Wilson is Considered Taboo in Anthropology? By: Francisco Quinones

  2. A (VERY) Brief History of the Split: Anthropology & Sociology

  3. A Brief History of the Split (Cont’) • 1830 Auguste Comte (founder of sociology) writes, “The Course of Positive Philosophy”. • Montesquieu (early 18th). • First professional anthropologists 1865 – L. H. Morgan “Houses and House-life of the American Aborigines”. • Franz Boas (1899 – Columbia).

  4. Sociology: “Social physics” Focus on search for general (Newtonian-like) laws Progressive Developmentalism Anthropology: “Historical Particularism” Focus on particular groups (cultural relativism) A Brief History of the Split (Cont’)

  5. A (VERY) Brief History of Social Evolution & Eugenics

  6. A Brief History of S. Evolution & Eugenics (Cont’) • Comtean Positivism • Progressive Developmentalism (Unilineal cultural evolution & chain of being). • Science as best suited to guide humanity toward achievement “infinite perfectibility” of human race. • Herbert Spencer • Combines Malthusian principles (exponential population growth & finite resources) with laissez-faire = “Survival of the Fittest”. • Social Evolution • Combines above with Comtean Postivism & Darwinian Natural Selection = Eugenics. • (Gould 129,136,172)

  7. Eugenics in America: A Yale Study • Forced sterilization was once legal in 18 U.S. States, and most states with eugenics laws allowed people to be sterilized without their consent by leaving the decision to a third party. • Sterilization laws had authorized the neutering of more than 40,000 people classed as insane or “feebleminded” in 30 states by 1944. • Another 22,000 underwent sterilization between the mid-1940s and 1963, despite weakening public support and revelations of nazi atrocities. • “Germany is perhaps the most progressive nation in restricting fecundity among the unfit,” editors of the New England Journal of Medicine wrote in 1934, a year after Hitler became chancellor. • Boasian school (Margaret Mead) takes up fight to disprove Social Evolutionary theory.

  8. E.O. Wilson & The Future of Eugenics • Epigenetic Rules as Normalizing Modern Social Behavior • Consilience pg 210 • Diagrams • Sociobiology as a tool for normalizing future eugenic projects. • Eugenics can be defined as a strategy of trying to orchestrate human evolution through programs aimed at encouraging the transmission of 'desirable' traits and discouraging the transmission of 'undesirable' ones.

  9. References:(Texts & Journals) • Bohannan, Paul. High points in Anthropology. Knoff. New York: 1973. • Evans-Pritchard. A History of Anthropological Thought. Basic Books. New York: 1981. • Gould, Stephen J. The Mismeasure of Man. Norton & co. New York: 1981. • “Genes uber Alles” in Time Magazine. V108 Dec 13, pp 93-K7 (1976 ). • Turner, Johnathan H. The Emergence of Sociological Theory. Wadsworth publishing co. Boston: 1995. • Wilson, Edward O. “What is sociobiology” in Society. V15 no6 pp10-14 (1978). • Wilson, Edward O. Consilience: the unity of knowledge. Vintage books. New York: 1998.

  10. References:(Web Sites) • http://wupa.wustl.edu/record/archive/1998/02-19-98/2866.html (4/1/02). • http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~cscpo/eowilson.htm (3/20/02). • http://peace.saumag.edu/faculty/Kardas/Courses/GPWeiten/C1Intro/Sociobiology.html (4/5/02). • http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/eugenics_000214.html (4/2/02). • http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/index.html (3/28/02). • http://www.csu.edu.au/learning/ncgr/gpi/odyssey/dolly-cloning/eugenics.html (4/5/02).

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