View a collection of videos on Professor Wilson entitled "On the Relation of Science and the Humanities"In his new preface E. O. Wilson reflects on how he came to write this book: how "The Insect Societies" led him to write "Sociobiology," and how the political and religious uproar that engulfed that book persuaded him to write another book that would better explain the relevance of biology to the understanding of human behavior.

On Human Nature

This review examines the state of play of kinship studies in late twentieth-century anthropology, paying close attention to theoretical advances and shifts in methodology and intent that have occurred since the 1970s. It highlights developments in Marxist, feminist, and historical approaches, the repatriation of kinship studies, various aspects of lesbian/gay kinship, and issues bearing on the new reproductive technologies. Contemporary kinship studies tend to be historically grounded; tend to focus on everyday experiences, understandings, and representations of gender, power, and difference; and tend to devote considerable analytic attention to themes of contradiction, paradox, and ambivalence.

Kinship Studies in Late Twentieth-Century Anthropology

This paper draws on evolutionary psychology to elucidate ultimate causation in imperial state formation and predatory exploitation in antiquity and beyond. Differential access to the means of reproduction is shown to have been a key feature of early imperial systems. (This revised paper replaces Version 1.0 posted in November 2005.)

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Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics

The term developmental psychobiology implies an integration between psychology and biology. But what segment of biology does the discipline embrace? The present commentary asserts that developmental psychobiology devotes too much attention to structural biology, with its emphasis on proximate mechanisms, and fails to give enough prominence to evolutionary biology and ultimate perspectives. I have attempted to portray the significance of evolution to developmental psychobiology and to elaborate on how developmental psychobiology might contribute to refinements in evolutionary theory, especially recent modifications that advocate a greater role for developmental processes. Methodological suggestions are offered, which would broaden developmental psychobiology's perspective so that a more comprehensive analysis of behavioral development results.

On the importance of evolution to developmental psychobiology

Reported here are the results of a survey inquiring into the rate of acceptance of four sociobiological concepts in regard to their usefulness for future research. Included in the survey were members of four subdisciplines: animal behavior (biology), biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, and developmental psychology. Three types of institutions were included: universities, four‐ and five‐year colleges, and community colleges. A total of 1,631 responses are reported with the degree of acceptance varying from highest to lowest as follows: biology, biological anthropology, developmental psychology, and cultural anthropology. These variations are related to the central concepts of each subdiscipline.

Douglas Friedrich

Papers

The fitness of human sociobiology: the future utility of four concepts in four subdisciplines.