A Study On Edward O. Wilson's Sociobiological Thought

Edward O.Wilson(1929—)who is a well-known biologist in modem America is regarded as "the Father of Sociobiolgy" and "the Father of Biodiversity".In 1975, Wilson published the book Sociobiology:The New Synthesis that convulsed the whole Western science and antilogy group,which indicated the naissance of the sociobiology.In the book,sociobiology is defined by Wioson as "the systematic study of biological basis of all social behavior".He integrated the Population Biology,Ethology and Evolutionary Theory to explain the social behavior and social structure of social creature.What's more, he used the sociobiology into the human society to explain the human's social behavior, the human nature and their evolution.Subsequently,in the books On Human Nature (1978),Genes,Mind,and Culture:The Coevolutionary Process(1981,with Charles J. Lumsden),Promethean Fire:Reflections on the Origin Of Mind(1983,with Charles J. Lumsden),Consilience:The Unity of Knowledge(1998),Wilson developed his thought of the human sociobiology,and tranfered the common form of the evolutionary theory to the theory of gene-culture coevolution,and explored the mutual relationship and evolutionary mechanism of the gene,spirit and culture.And,he claimed to reconstruct the basis of social science through researching the structure of human nature,to bridge the gap between the natural science and the social science.Edward O.Wilson's sociobiology was suffered from drastically debating as his Sociobiology was published.The debating is continued to today,which is unusual in the history of science of 20 century on the subject realm and the number of participating in it. It is regarded as the most drastic evolution controversy after On the Origin of Species.In the preface,this debating is regarded as the background of studying and researching on Wilson's sociobiological thought.The first chapter discusses the fundamental,the program and the core question of the sociobiology,and the contribution of Wilson to sociobiology.The second chapter discusses Wilson's early human sociobiology.The third chapter discusses Wilson's later gene-culture coevolutionary theory.The fourth chapter gives the author's own review,vindication and justification on Wilson's sociobiological thought. To sum up,the author conceives the more affirmative point on Edward O.Wilson's sociobiolgical thought,and regards it as the new programm of researching social behavior and the new way to understanding the human nature,not as the genetic determinism and social Darwinism.It takes on the very important theoretical value and inspiring meaning about understanding the human nature and the relation between human's biological attribute and social attribute,and offers the important revelation to bridge science and humanities.