From up here they look like ants¹

The inspiration for this title was a remark by Edward O. Wilson (1978, p. 17). He describes sociobiology as the discipline which looks at human beings as if through the wrong end of a telescope.

Abstract

Edward O. Wilson's sociobiology, as advocated in On Human Nature, is often criticized for its sensationalism and its anthropomorphisms. Critics have not recognized, however, that the so‐called anthropomorphisms are essential to sociobiology, in so far as it seeks to address the humanities, and that the sensationalism derives from them. They are not just the sloppiness usually found in popularizations. Section I reviews the grounds for these criticisms and then ends by demonstrating that it is no less a confusion to label these misuses of language ‘anthropomorphisms’. Section II analyzes the style of reasoning, characteristic of scientism in general and sociobiology in particular, that sanctions misuses of language such as Wilson's. The flaw in this reasoning is that it depends upon the very language it sets out to debunk, in a way that renders its own arguments unintelligible.

Notes

The inspiration for this title was a remark by Edward O. Wilson (1978, p. 17). He describes sociobiology as the discipline which looks at human beings as if through the wrong end of a telescope.