Do sociobiology etc. exclude the social sciences?
Steve Fuller Oct 31, 2003 17:59 UT My own apologies for not responding sooner – given the lateness of the submission – but I’ve been out of town for a couple of days. Dan raises two questions that deserve longer answers and discussions but here are some opening moves: (1) Do the various programmes to unify our understanding of the human condition under a broadly biologized framework exclude the social sciences? (2) Am I against the unification of the sciences? In answer to (1): I actually do think that the answer is yes. While social scientists are welcomed as data gatherers, they are not welcomed as explainers (unless they use a biologically inspired explanation). Having read the popular and technical literature in this area, and having attended seminars devoted to the topic, I am struck by how the social sciences are stereotypically reduced to the Cosmides-Tooby SSSM: ‘Standard Social Science Model’. I am not sure what is more objectionable about the stereotype – that it is wrong or
