| Abstrakt: |
It has been suggested that biology can have nothing to say about human societies because of the histories and traditions that make societies what they are. This suggestion indicates a basic misunderstanding of biology. It is the purpose of this paper to clarify this misunderstanding and to show the suggestion to be false. The histories of human societies, the article argues, can best be understood when viewed from the perspective of evolutionary biology. The theory of evolution by selection is viewed as having application only to the characteristics of nonhuman organisms and to the non-behavioral characteristics of human organisms. At its core, this view of the limitations of evolutionary theory has some basic misunderstandings which have impeded progress toward the elucidation of human endeavors. A discussion of these misunderstandings and their resolutions is critical in order to facilitate communication between what are traditionally termed the biological and the social sciences. A major objection to the application of evolutionary theory to human social behavior is that the theory is basically genetically deterministic. |
