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Is Sociobiology a New Paradigm?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Michael Ruse
Michael Ruse*
Affiliation:
Departments of History and Philosophy University of Guelph
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Abstract

Is sociobiology a new paradigm? A number of people have claimed that it is. I argue that, sociologically speaking, it may well be. But epistemologically, it is not. The case rests on one's interpretation of the major Darwinian evolutionary mechanism, natural selection. In this note, it is shown that sociobiology relies on an orthodox understanding of selection. Thus, in crucial epistemological respects, sociobiology is continuous with the rest of Darwinian evolutionary theory.

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Type
Discussion
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Philosophy of Science , Volume 54 , Issue 1 , March 1987 , pp. 98 - 104
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Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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