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Gical Argwnentsmaybe Incorrect, but the Research Paradigm Is Notintrinsicallyflawed

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Gical Argwnentsmaybe Incorrect, but the Research Paradigm Is Notintrinsicallyflawed Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers, Nos. 71-72, 1990 Is Sociobiology Methodologically Flawed? P. Thomas Schoenemann The argument between human sociobiologists and their critics is a case ofcompeting paradigms. Two frequent criticisms ofsociobiology are: 1) it is inherently dangerous to assume that biology has an important influence on behavior; and 2) the assumption ofevolutionary adaptation is a methodological error. These criticisms are aimed at the underlying assumptions of sociobiology with the intent of demonstrating that sociobiology isfundamentallyflawed. It is argued that thefirst criticism disregards examples ofhwnan suffering that have occurred because ofan ignorance ofbiology and insteadfocuses exclusively on suffering that has occurred because ofa misuse ofbiology, while the second criticism represents a misunderstanding ofthe nature ofevolutionary biological research. Individual sociobiolo- gical argwnents may be incorrect, but the researchparadigm is not intrinsicallyflawed. INTRODUCTION sociobiology suffers from serious methodologi- cal flaws because it emphasizes a search for Human sociobiology means different things adaptations. As we shall see, however, this cri- to different people. The classic definition (Wil- ticism betrays a profound lack of insight into son 1975:2) states that sociobiology is "...the how the field of evolutionary biology allows us systematic study of the biological basis of all to understand the world around us. social behavior." Because it is recognized that an organism's biology evolved (as opposed to being specially created), sociobiology necessarily THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE involves an application of evolutionary biological principles to the understanding of social be- My basic argument will hinge on the fact that havior. There remains, however, an extreme humans are severely limited in their ability to diversity of views on sociobiology's goals, perceive and understand the complexity of the methods and accomplishments (or lack thereof, world around them. As scientists, we are con- depending on one's perspective). This can be fronted with a bewildering array of empirical traced to the fact that sociobiology deals with observations which no human is able to compre- something that no one can claim to be agnostic hend as a single unit. In order to make sense of about. You may not, for example, have a vested this knowledge, we have no option but to break it interest in the truths of ceramic tile heat conduc- down into smaller, manageable pieces. We use tion, or of cloud formation, but you are likely to hypotheses, or theoretical constructs (which in have some understanding of human behavior. turn derive from our current scientific paradigm; Because humans are highly interactive social ani- Kuhn 1970) to guide our explorations. Whether mals, one simply cannot afford to be ignorant of the history of scientific understanding has pro- other people's behavior. To its severest critics, ceeded in a tortuous and twisted route, as Kuhn human sociobiology is seen as a dangerous and (1970) has argued, or simply by a series of suc- misguided attempt to speculate on the limits to cessive modifications of existing theories, it is human behavior; so dangerous and misguided, in clear that the process requires intermediate steps. fact, that they feel it should be rejected out of Paradigms are constructed precisely because our hand as a research paradigm. How valid is this search for understanding proceeds at a snail's claim? pace through a series ofintermediate steps. Para- In this article I will assess two of the most digms serve not only to organize and make sense common a priori reasons for rejecting the of the mass of empirical observations, but be- sociobiological paradigm. The first criticism cause they represent ways of perceiving the emphasizes the potential negative effects of faulty world, they also serve to guide future research. studies that attempt to detect/explain biological Paradigms define which questions "make sense" influences on behavior. This viewpoint ignores to ask; that is, which questions are likely to pro- the other side of the coin, that there are serious vide meaning when answered. Even "holists" negative consequences to the assumption that (those who emphasize that the whole is more biology is irrelevant to behavior, even as a than the sum of its parts) reject the "...romantic working hypothesis. The second argument, ad- notions that one can grasp the functional intri- vanced by some evolutionary biologists, is that cacies of complex systems without conducting 50 scientific and technological studies of individual potential for the abuse of biological ideas in components" (Soule 1985:728). We simply can- political arenas, then any theories purporting to not go from a position of complete ignorance to explain human behavior should operate under the one ofcomplete knowledge in a single step. assumption that biology is irrelevant. It is impor- Human sociobiology is an attempt to explain tant to keep in mind that there are two basic types behavior within an evolutionary biological oferrors that can be made when discussing beha- framework, using exactly the same theoretical vior. The first error is to assume that biology is foundation that evolutionists have used to explain irrelevant when it is in fact relevant. The second morphological variation. In this sense, it repre- error is to assume that biology is relevant when it sents nothing more than a simple extension of a is in fact irrelevant. Critics of sociobiology feel much larger research program. The diversity of that this second kind of error is inherently more opinions about the merits of sociobiology stem dangerous (and likely) than the first. They feel from an extremely basic dichotomy (a conflict of that it is safer to ignore biology in discussions of paradigms) in how people choose to study be- human behavior than to acknowledge it. havior. There are those who are fundamentally That this fear is central to criticisms of interested in differences between human groups, sociobiology is evidenced by the opening chapter and consequently feel that cultural variability in- of Kitcher's (1985) critique of sociobiology. In dicates human transcendence over biology; and it he describes a policy in England which placed there are others who see meaning only in com- children into either academic or trade schools on mon underlying behavioral patterns, and are the basis of psychometric tests given at age ele- consequently more receptive to biological expla- ven. His point is that children were made to feel nations. like failures if they did not pass these tests, and These two basic points of view define quite that this quite possibly scarred them for life. In a nicely (but obviously only on a very general sense, he believes that the tests created the differ- level) the fundamental difference between the ences between children, rather then pinpointing sociocultural anthropology paradigm and the existing differences. He feels that the risks of as- evolutionary biology paradigm. No graduate stu- suming a biological basis ofbehavior are greater dent in sociocultural anthropology, for instance, than the potential benefits that such a belief might could get away with claiming that the people she bring, and therefore we should always operate studied in her fieldwork in East Africa were for under the assumption that biology is irrelevant. all practical purposes essentially the same as the Furthermore, he argues that we should hold re- Balinese. It is the nature of this field to empha- search on such subjects to a higher level of size uniqueness, and because of this, there is no scrutiny than other fields of inquiry. As Kitcher unifying theme that ties the field together, save (1985) wrote: the omnipotence of culture. In contrast, it is the nature ofevolutionary biology to emphasize com- If a single scientist, or even the whole monalities, links and underlying threads. A community of scientists, comes to graduate student in zoology could not get away adopt an incorrect view ofthe origins of with studying desert pupfish without putting a distant galaxy, an inadequate model of them into an evolutionary framework. Evolu- foraging behavior in ants, or a crazy tionary biology, like the rest of the natural explanation of the extinction of the sciences, is a field that attempts to explain the dinosaurs, then the mistake will not greatest number of differences with the least prove tragic. By contrast, if we are number of principles. Human sociobiology is wrong about the bases of human social nothing more than the application ofevolutionary behavior, if we abandon the goal of a biological analyses to human behavior (Ruse fair distribution of the benefits and 1985; Barash 1977), and therefore shares all the burdens of society because we accept detriments as well as all the benefits ofthis larger faulty hypotheses about ourselves and paradigm. our evolutionary history, then the con- sequences of a scientific mistake may be grave indeed (1985:9). THE DANGER OF BIOLOGY There is nothing wrong with the argument Perhaps the most frequent criticism of that we should weigh the costs and benefits of sociobiology stems from the historical record of implementing policies and doing research. The abuse of biology to support racist, ethnocentrist question is whether the second kind of error and sexist ideologies. The argument is that (being wrong in assuming that biological because there is, and has historically been, such a differences influence a particular
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