Sociobiology and Reductionism???

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Christine Long

09/12/03

IB Theory of Knowledge        

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Sociobiology and Reductionism???

        It has been taught for centuries that man was the center of the universe. That humans rule the world. And that the thing that sets people apart from the rest is their extraordinary ability to reason and make their own decisions: their freewill. So what would it mean if man’s freewill was taken away? Where would that leave us? Would it make us less human?

        Reductionism is defined as “the attempt to explain all biological processes by the same explanations (as by physical laws) that chemists and physicists use to interpret inanimate matter.” There is also a Reductionist theory that suggests that complete reductionism is possible. Reductionists have studied human behavior and suggest that human behavior is based on what our body’s molecules do. What if one day they do exceed in explaining human behavior in this way? What would that mean? Would it mean that our whole concept of human existence and human behavior is false? Would it remove the whole idea that the human race’s distinction comes from our freewill?

         Reductionists try to explain human behavior by the ideals of sociobiology. The theory of sociobiology claims that “all human behaviors, which include social, altruistic and religious behavior, are caused by maximizing the survival propensity for out genes.” This idea suggests that all great works of art, all human relationships, and all religious beliefs, are all created by means of genetic survival. This idea suggests that a person’s behavior throughout his life is programmed through his genes. That people have no free will.

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        It is known that human beings have certain animal instincts, yet at the same time, they do not always yield to them. Moral standards often hold people back and keep them from acting on their animal impulses. For example, sexual desire is an animal instinct, yet human’s have the ability to control this. Because of moral beliefs, a man might decide to not to have sex before marriage. Sociobiology suggests that this choice that the man makes is not an action of freewill, but instead is because of his genetic makeup that pre-programmed his life, that his choice to not ...

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