Richard J. Perry (2) (1942–)

This is an engaging, fast history of the sociobiology/evolutionary psychology vs. ... well, everyone else, according to this book. I will say this book has probably changed my mind, at least provisionally, as my reading until now has largely (apparently...?) be within the "determinism" vein.

That said... I'm knocking off one star for several reasons. (1) The book doesn't do a good job of keeping biological determinism vs. evolutionary psychology vs. some-unnamed-broad-genetic-shaping-but-not-determinism separate, and this is especially glaring in (2) the author's repeated tying of any and all ideas that smack of any form of determinism to racism, the forced-sterilization varieties of eugenics, and everything wrong with society and politics since ~1975. So, basically, if you think (as the author himself maybe-possibly does?) that our thinking is of course *shaped* by our genetic inheritance (whatever that may mean), then perhaps this too-broad net means you, too, are a racist... (clearly, the author does not believe this, but I point out his writing leaves this open, it seems.)

And (2), above, actually points at a larger problem I have with this book, which should perhaps knock it down to 3 stars. In 182 pages, perhaps 100 of those pages are history and politics. In what is, in the end, a scientific debate... I was left, at some points, feeling like it was watching a Ben Stein documentary on how Intelligent Design deserves your attention because, after all, Nazis and evolution, nudge, nudge. This book is better than that (far, far, better), but I doubt Dr. Perry wants even that aftertaste.

Finally, (3) I don't see how the belief that there are no such things as "modules" a la Pinker can mesh with evidence of e.g. fairness preference in infants. Since Dr. Perry calls that out specifically (or, at least "punishing defectors" and the like), I'd like to see how the anti-EP folks address evidence for "hard-coded" morality (or, at least, the "hard-coded" evaluation of behaviors as helpful or not.)… (altro)

There have been attempts to find a biological explanation for human behaviour since the Enlightenment in the 18th c. Whether it was the Social Darwinism of the 19thc., Eugenics of the early 20th c., Sociobiology of the late 20th. C, or the present theory of Evolutionary Psychology, as author Richard J Perry points out, it all suggests that human behaviour is written indelibly in our genes. These theories have been used to ‘prove’ racism and to do away with programs of aid to disadvantaged groups. If who and what we are today was selected for in the Pleistocene Era and, despite our very large brain in relation to our size or our long developmental period, we cannot change then programs like Head Start are just a waste of taxpayers’ money. In his book, Killer Apes, Naked Apes, and Just Plain Nasty People, Perry looks at the history of varying theories of biological determinism, how they stand up to research, and how they have influenced social ideology:

In most respects, these arguments have amounted to ideological assertions rather than scientific discoveries – a matter of “faith without proof”. It often seems to be a short step from assertions of “what evolved to be” to “what’s meant to be”.

I have read several reviews on this book and the consensus among many of the reviewers (other than scientific reviewers) seems to be that Professor Perry gives a rather facile and cursory examination of evolutionary psychology. Putting aside the rather condescending ‘damning by faint praise’ nature of these reviews, I wonder how many of them are deliberately missing the point. Perry is not condemning the scientific research so much as the use it is often made outside the scientific arena. Scientists look at theories, test them, and open them to peer review – if the results don’t stand up, they discard the theory and move on. Too often, though, these theories are picked up by the media, put forward as proven fact, then used to sway social and political debate and policy. If anyone doubts that Biological Determinism influences political discourse, they haven’t been paying attention to the news lately: the arguments used to justify Neoliberalism, deregulation, racism, misogyny, the demonization and criminalization of the poor, not to mention cut-throat competition and violence in society as well as war all sound surprisingly like the arguments used by Social Darwinists throughout the Industrial Revolution and the Gilded Age, by the Eugenicists right up until the end of WWII when it became horribly evident how it had influenced the Nazis, and by the Sociobiologists who used it as an excuse to sterilize African Americans, First Nations, and the mentally and physically challenged in the United States and Canada up until the 1970s ie Man is, by nature, competitive, violent, selfish and all of this is good because it ensures the survival of the fittest.

Killer Apes, Naked Apes, and Just Plain Nasty People gives a cogent, well-researched, and easily understood outline of the history of biological determinism over the last century and a half, how the theories have changed and how they remain the same, the pseudo-science, misinformation, and outright lies that have arisen around the actual research, and the effects it has had on our social and political lives. Whether you agree with Professor Perry or not, biological determinism has had and continues to have a profound effect on social policy and we should all be aware of its influence. This book is a very good place to start.… (altro)