Re: sociobiology: real and imagined

Those who choose to focus on the level of ideology should realize they
will just be hoist on their own petard.  Why should anyone take *you*
seriously when you clearly have your mind made up already according to
your ideological dogma?

To think that E.O. Wilson turned to the issue of biodiversity as an
ideological smokescreen for his fascism is a symptom of paranoia.  He's a
naturalist!  He likes other species, and doesn't want them wiped out.
Perhaps it would be better to realize that despite the ideological
differences we have with Wilson, we have common ground on checking rampant
capitalist development to save biodiversity.

But then of course you couldn't feel ideologically pure anymore. You would
be consorting with the class enemy, the Demonic Other.  I think you,
the Marxist, can easily be explained by Durkheim and his theory of group
boundaries and the function of deviance for group solidarity:  "WE HATE
SOCIOBIOLOGY -- 2 LEGS BAD, 4 LEGS GOOD!"

Personally, I admire Wilson and "Consilience."  I don't agree with all
of it (I don't think he understands sociology), but I think its intention
of reestablishing the Enlightenment project is inspiring.

Here's an example of "sociobiological" research, broadly speaking, with
progressive implications.  There's a new book out on inequality and health
on the New Press.  (I don't have it handy, I loaned it to a colleague.
I'll follow up later with the citation.)  It's a collection of public
health journal articles.  A solid finding of this research is that we
humans, like other primates and mammals, are intensely status-conscious.
It's not choice, it's not ideology:  it's hard-wired.  The upshot is that
countries with lower levels of income inequality have higher life
expectancy.  The social engineering this research recommends is to reduce
inequality because it will improve the health of people.

I suppose you're going to tell me that this research is employing
sociobiology, and therefore it's a capitalist/fascist plot.

You're welcome to groupthink, although I don't know why you'd want it.

RH