Here is an insightful review by Chris Booker of Edward O. Wilson’s work, “the Social Conquest of Earth.” Wilson defends Darwinian evolution, attempting to explain certain social phenomena from that perspective. Booker, however, doesn’t buy it:
“Nothing is more comical about Darwinians than the contortions they get into in trying to explain those ‘altruistic’ aspects of human nature which might seem to contradict their belief that the evolutionary drive is always essentially self-centred (seen at its most extreme in Dawkins’s ‘selfish gene’ theory). Wilson’s thesis finally crumbles when he comes up with absurdly reductionist explanations for the emergence of the creative arts and religion. Forget Bach’s B Minor Mass or the deeper insights of the Hindu scriptures — as a lapsed Southern Baptist, he caricatures the religious instinct of mankind as little more than the stunted form of faith he escaped from.”
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via E.O. Wilson has a new explanation for consciousness, art & religion. Is it credible? » The Spectator.
The Beginning of the End 