E. O. Wilson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Edward Osborne Wilson
Edward Osborne Wilson
Born June 10, 1929
Birmingham, Alabama USA

Edward Osborne Wilson (b. June 10, 1929 in Birmingham, Alabama USA) is a distinguished biologist (Myrmecology, a branch of entomology), researcher (sociobiology, biodiversity) and theorist (consilience, biophilia), a naturalist (conservationism), and a prominent man of letters. Wilson is known for his remarkably prolific career as a scientist,[1] his advocacy for environmentalism, and his scientific humanist ideas concerned with religious, moral, and ethical matters. He is currently the Pellegrino Research Professor in Entomology for the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.

Contents

[edit] Biographical Details

[edit] Early Years

"Most children have a bug phase," Wilson often remarks. "I never outgrew mine." In his autobiography Naturalist, he describes his formative years in Washington, D.C. and in the countryside around Mobile, Alabama. From an early age, Wilson was interested in natural history. His parents, Edward and Inez Wilson, divorced when he was seven and in the same year he damaged his eye in a fishing accident. The young naturalist grew up in several cities and towns, moving around with his father and his stepmother, Pearl. His reduced ability to observe mammals and birds led him to concentrate on insects. At nine, Wilson undertook his first expeditions at Rock Creek Park. At the age of sixteen, intent on becoming an entomologist, he began by collecting flies, but the shortage of insect pins caused by the Second World War caused him to switch to ants, which could be stored in vials. With the encouragement of Marion R. Smith, a myrmecologist from the National Museum of Natural History, the youthful Wilson began a survey of all the ants of Alabama.

Entering a university was an unusual choice at the time for someone of Wilson's background; however, it was the only way he could pursue a career in entomology. Fearing that he would not be able to afford school, Wilson attempted to enlist in the US Army. His plan was to secure government financial support for his education. Unfortunately, he failed his medical exam due to his impaired eyesight. Nevertheless, Wilson was able to enroll in college because the University of Alabama was open to all graduates of Alabama's public high school system and had affordable fees.

[edit] Education

Wilson graduated (B.S. and M.S.) from University of Alabama, and received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He received a D.Sc. from Bates College in 1996 and has received other honorary degrees from various colleges and universities.

[edit] Awards and Honors

Wilson's many scientific and conservation honors include:

[edit] Scientific Theories

[edit] Island Biogeography

Main article: The Theory of Island Biogeography

[edit] Sociobiology: The New Synthesis

Sociobiology, as Wilson originally called his new synthesis work in 1975, is "the systematic study of the biological basis of all social behavior." By applying evolutionary principles to understanding the social behavior of animals all the way to the order of humans, Wilson established sociobiology as an entirely new field of science. He argued that all animal behavior, even that of humans, is influenced by genes and never entirely of free will. This condition Wilson famously referred to as the genetic leash.[3] The sociobiological view of the facts is that all animal social behavior is governed by certain biologically based rules (i.e. epigenetic rules) worked out by the laws of evolution. This theory and research proved to be seminal, controversial, and influential.[4]

The controversy of sociobiological research is in how it applies to humans. The theory established a scientific argument for rejecting the common doctrine of tabula rasa (i.e. "blank slate"), which held that human beings were born without any innate mental content and that culture functioned to increase human knowledge and aid in survival and success. In the final chapter of the book Sociobiology and in the full text of his Pulitzer Prize winning On Human Nature, Wilson argued that the human mind was shaped as much by genetic inheritance as it was by culture (if not more). There were limits on just how much influence social and environmental factors could have in altering human behavior. These ideas managed to offend both liberals and conservatives who both favored the idea that human behavior was culturally based. Sociobiology re-ignited the "nature versus nurture" debate and Wilson's scientific perspective on human nature touched off a firestorm of public debate. He was accused of racism, misogyny, and eugenics.[5] In one famous incident, members of the International Committee Against Racism, a group connected to a Marxist organization called Science for the People, poured a pitcher of water on Wilson's head and chanted "Wilson, you're all wet" at a conference in 1978.[6]

[edit] Consilience: The Unity Of Knowledge

In his 1998 book Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, Wilson discusses methods that have been used to unite the sciences and might in the future unite the sciences with the humanities. Wilson prefers and uses the term consilience to describe the synthesis of knowledge from different specialized fields of human endeavor.

He defines human nature as a collection of epigenetic rules: the genetic patterns of mental development. Cultural phenomena, rituals, etc. are products, not parts, of human nature. Artworks, for example, are not part of human nature, but our appreciation of art is. And this art appreciation, or our fear for snakes, or incest taboo (Westermarck effect) can be studied by the methods of reductionism. Until then these phenomena were only part of psychological, sociological or anthropological studies. Wilson proposes that they can be part of interdisciplinary research.

[edit] Beliefs

Wilson coined the phrase scientific humanism as "the only worldview compatible with science's growing knowledge of the real world and the laws of nature". [7] It is a worldview that characterizes science as the only valid form of knowledge. As such, Wilson argues, it is best suited to improve the human condition. Wilson is a Humanist Laureate of the International Academy of Humanism.

On the question of God, Wilson has described his position as provisional deism.[8] In the past, he has explained his faith as a trajectory away from traditional beliefs: "I drifted away from the church, not definitively agnostic or atheistic, just Baptist no more."[9] Like the famous American pragmatist William James, Wilson argues that the belief in God and rituals of religion are products of evolution.[10] They should not be rejected or dismissed, but further investigated by science to better understand their importance to human nature. In his book, The Creation, Wilson makes a case for putting aside epistemological differences between religion and science and concentrating on what they have in common; namely, living nature.

[edit] Academic work

[edit] The selfish gene

Wilson has argued that the preservation of the gene, rather than the individual, is the focus of evolution, a theme explored in more detail and popularized by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene.

[edit] Criticism

Several of Wilson's colleagues at Harvard, such as Richard Lewontin and the late Stephen Jay Gould, were vehemently opposed to his ideas. Marshall Sahlins's work "The Use and Abuse of Biology" was also a direct criticism to Wilson's theories.

Wilson was surprised by the vehemence of the attacks on his theory, much to the astonishment of his critics. He wrote that "the political objections forcefully made by the Sociobiology Study Group of Science for the People in particular took me by surprise." Wilson had not considered his paper relevant to political analysis such as Marxists offered. He was annoyed with his critics for "blind-siding" him. He objected that no one had made him aware of their feelings while he was writing his book, even though several of them, Gould and Lewontin included, were well aware of his project. Furthermore, he was angered because he felt that the critics were being hysterical and misrepresenting his position. He rejected the charge that his theory was biologically deterministic, and pointed to several passages in articles he had written which he claimed had already addressed their concerns, for example,

"The moment has come to stress that there is a dangerous trap in sociobiology, one which can be avoided only by constant vigilance. The trap is the naturalistic fallacy of ethics which uncritically concludes that what is, should be. The ‘what is’ in human nature is to a large extent the heritage of a Pleistocene hunter-gatherer existence. When any genetic bias is demonstrated, it cannot be used to justify a continuing practice in present and future societies." (New York Times Magazine)

A result of these controversies was his 1981 work Genes, Mind and Culture: The Coevolutionary Process, coauthored with Charles Lumsden. This very mathematical work was popularized in Promethean fire: reflections on the origin of mind (1983). The paradigm of coevolutionary process takes its place in the history of modern science and anthropology.

[edit] Ecology

To meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this section may require cleanup.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page, and/or replace this tag with a more specific message. Editing help is available.
This section has been tagged since January 2006.
This section does not cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations. (help, get involved!) This article has been tagged since December 2006.

Wilson has also studied the mass extinctions of the 20th century and their relationship to modern society. He explains:

Now when you cut a forest, an ancient forest in particular, you are not just removing a lot of big trees and a few birds fluttering around in the canopy. You are drastically imperiling a vast array of species within a few square miles of you. The number of these species may go to tens of thousands.

Many of them are still unknown to science, and science has not yet discovered the key role undoubtedly played in the maintenance of that ecosystem, as in the case of fungi, microorganisms, and many of the insects.

and adds:

Let us get rid immediately of the notion that all you have to do is keep a little patch of the old growth somewhere, and then you can do whatever you want with the rest. That is a very dangerous and false notion.

He concludes:

Had people taken the alert signals seriously, as intelligent people must, this 1992 book [The Diversity of Life] would have set the basis for a new level of discussions on the environment and the current ongoing worldwide biotic holocaust exterminating species at the rate of one every 20 minutes. People might be working on solutions by now instead of still wallowing in ignorance. The facts are clearly and well laid out. The evidence is presented, the theories and data explained at length, at a reasonable cost in paperback (or free from the public lending library). Eight years later people are still presenting in public flawed paradigms (perhaps deliberately) to excuse their gluttonous behaviour which is crushing the planetary life-support systems.

– E. O. Wilson 2000

[edit] Main works

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Novacek, Michael J. (2001). Lifetime achievement: E.O. Wilson. CNN.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-08.
  2. ^ Wilson, E. O. (2002). E. O. Wilson On Boy Scouts, Blade Runner, and Huck Finn. Science & Spirit. Retrieved on 2006-11-08.
  3. ^ E. O. Wilson, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, New York, Knopf, 1998, pp. 127-128.
  4. ^ Wolfe, Tom (1996). Sorry, But Your Soul Just Died. Vol. 158, Issue 13, pp.210ff. Forbes
  5. ^ Douglas, Ed (2001). Darwin's Natural Heir. Guardian Unlimitied.
  6. ^ Thacker, Paul D. (2001). Interview: Edward O. Wilson. Issue 119. HMS Beagle: The BioMedNet Magazine
  7. ^ in Harvard Magazine December 2005 p 33.
  8. ^ The Creation
  9. ^ Consilience
  10. ^ Human Nature

[edit] External links

[edit] Videos

[edit] Interviews

[edit] Articles

[edit] Essays

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../e/2E/_/E._O._Wilson_305f.html"