Sociobiology: The New Synthesis - Hardcover

Wilson, Edward

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674000897 ISBN 13: 9780674000896

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2000

Synopsis

When this classic work was first published in 1975, it created a new discipline and started a tumultuous round in the age-old nature versus nurture debate. This book is widely known as the object of bitter attacks by social scientists and other scholars who opposed its claim that human social behaviour, indeed human nature, has a biological foundation. The controversy surrounding the publication of the book reverberates to the present day. In the introduction to this 25th anniversary edition, the author shows how research in human genetics and neuroscience has strengthened the case for a biological understanding of human nature. Human socio-biology, now often called evolutionary psychology, has in the last quarter of a century emerged as its own field of study, drawing on theory and data from both biology and the social sciences. From its illustrated descriptions of animal societies, and as a crucial step forward in the understanding of human beings, this volume should be of interest to a new generation of students and scholars in all branches of learning.

About this title

Review:

A towering theoretical achievement of exceptional elegance...Like most great books, "Sociobiology" is unpedantic, lucid, and eminently accessible.--Pierre L. van den Berghe "Contemporary Sociology "

From the Back Cover:

Harvard University Press is proud to announce the re-release of the complete original version of Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, now available in paperback for the first time. When this classic work was first published in 1975, it created a new discipline and started a tumultuous round in the age-old nature versus nurture debate. Although voted by officers and fellows of the international Animal Behavior Society the most important book on animal behavior of all time, Sociobiology is probably more widely known as the object of bitter attacks by social scientists and other scholars who opposed its claim that human social behavior, indeed human nature, has a biological foundation. The controversy surrounding the publication of the book reverberates to the present day.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0674000897
• ISBN 13: 9780674000896
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 720