The Advent of Sociobiology Sheds New Light on Animal Societies
Overview
Sociobiology is the attempt to understand the biological origins and development of animal societies—including human society—using the Darwinian theory of natural selection. It is based in part on the observation that certain behaviors in animal societies are universal, meaning they must be based on hereditary instincts. This includes behaviors that make social life possible, such as cooperation, division of labor, social hierarchy, etc. Sociobiology explains the origins of these social instincts as the product of natural selection and explains hereditary behaviors as traits that help animals survive and reproduce.
Background
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) himself had grappled with the problem of social behavior and ethics in human society. In The Descent of Man (1871) he expressed the view that human ethics was similar to the social instincts of other animals, such as wolves or apes, but more highly developed because of the human capacity to reason. He believed that the social instincts were hereditary in humans, just as they are in other animals.
A difficulty Darwin faced was how to explain the origin of ethical behavior in naturalistic terms. After all, his theory of natural selection through the struggle for existence implied that all organisms were competing for scarce resources.
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