Edward Osborne Wilson
- Born
- 10 June 1929
When E. O. Wilson was finishing Sociobiology: The New Synthesis in 1975 it was unlikely that he could have predicted the reception that this particular book was going to have.
In this work, Edward Osborne "E. O." Wilson argued that the social behaviour of animals came from their genes. This is not necessarily too controversial a hypothesis and, indeed, the thesis runs pretty happily through most of the book. That is, until the last chapter. Here, Wilson said that his ideas could also be applied to humans. He argued that evolutionary biology, rather than culture, could explain ethics. This meant that core elements of human existence, such as altruistic acts, could be seen to be nothing more than the result of biologically hardwired impulses. So rather than the product of civilisation, morality was just the convenient result of millions of years’ worth of natural selection.
The result of this assertion was one of the most emotive and hotly contested scientific debates of the 20th century which centred around one of the most fundamental questions we can ask about ourselves: are we guided by our nature or our nurture?
The origin of Wilson’s interest in the relationship between animals and their genes originated as a child. His first scientific obsession was birds. However, poor eyesight in one eye from a fishing accident and the onset of partial deafness meant that Wilson had to trade in his ornithological passions for something less dependent on hearing and seeing long distance. It was not long before he discovered the subject in which he would make his name. His ailments made him focus, quite literally, on the little things in life. The replacement for his interest in birds came in the form of insects.
From this childhood obsession, he would become one of the world’s leading authorities on ants. He was fascinated by them. But in particular he was curious about their deeply hierarchal and intensely rigid social structures. The regimented lives that ants lead, Wilson thought, could only be the result of inherent behaviour arising from their biology.
The thirst for knowledge is in our genes. It was put there by our distant ancestors who spread across the world, and it is never going to be quenched.
E. O. Wilson, Letters to a Young Scientist 2013
When Wilson applied this idea to humans, in the mid 1970s, the backlash was huge. Critics ranged from those who saw his work as deeply unscientific to the far more serious claims of those who accused him of biological determinism echoing that of the Social Darwinists and the eugenics movement of the early 20th century. Others supported Wilson and indeed, the fields of sociobiology and evolutionary psychology owe much to Wilson’s initial pondering.
His work is still immensely divisive even today and although we might not be able to give a firm conclusion to the question on what guides us - our nature or our nurture - thanks to his influence we can certainly give a more informed answer.
This profile was written by a Biology: Changing the World volunteer.