Viewpoint: Yes, sociobiologists led by E. O. Wilson have offered convincing evidence that the mechanisms of the inheritance and development of human physical, mental, and behavioral traits are essentially the same as for other animals.

Viewpoint: No, sociobiologists fail to account for many observable phenomena and invariably support a version of biological determinism.

In popular usage, the term sociobiology is used for the assumption that all mechanisms that account for the inheritance and development of physical, mental, and behavioral traits are essentially the same in humans and other animals. According to Edward O. Wilson, author of Sociobiology: The...