Sociobiology and morality.

Sociobiology is an attempt to explain the social behavior of organisms in biological terms. The search for the biological basis of social behavior has a long history involving such disciplines as ethnology, ecology, population biology, and comparative psychology. In 1975, E. O. Wilson presented a synthesis of these approaches within the framework of evolutionary theory.1 His book, Sociobiology, was strongly criticized for what many regarded as lack of caution in extrapolating from explanation of animal behavior to explanation of human behavior.2 More recently, in his On Human Nature, Wilson has attempted to clarify his views and answer the critics.3 Other writers also have presented accounts of sociobiological reasoning.4 While sociobiologists differ among themselves on a variety of points, sociobiology itself continues to be the center of a heated controversy. Much of the argument has focused on the political and social implications of sociobiological accounts of human behavior.