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Nature Versus Nurture in the Twentieth Century: The debate between culturalism and hereditarianism over human behavior
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Resumo(s)
The search for the nature and origins of human behavior gave rise to some of the most noteworthy scientific disputes in the biological sciences in the twentieth century. Conventionally divided into culturalists and hereditarians, supporters of alternative explanatory frameworks for human behavior participated in a series of heated discussions throughout the latter half of the century. These discussions were not purely technical in their content but reflected the social and ideological commitments of their participants through their prominent extra-scientific dimensions. The aim of this dissertation is to examine several key twentieth-century debates surrounding the heredity-environment dichotomy, tracing the genealogy of the discussion by uncovering parallels, continuities, and recurring themes across different contexts. In doing so, it intends to gain novel insights into the multilayered nature of the disputes, by contextualizing individual episodes in the framework of an overarching debate. The dissertation begins by examining the establishment of a broad culturalist consensus in the wake of the Second World War, shaped by the opposition to eugenics and Nazism, and its institutionalization, symbolized by the UNESCO statements on race. Then, it explores the two foremost controversies around human behavior of that period: the IQ controversy, stirred by the publication of Arthur Jensen’s polemical 1969 article, and the Sociobiology Wars, prompted by E. O. Wilson’s research program that postulated a biological basis for human behavior, focusing on the controversies’ extra-scientific aspects. Finally, the dissertation analyzes how these episodes and the extra-scientific nature of the critiques that marked them bear on contemporary discussions in genetics, focusing on the reception of David Reich’s work on human populational differences. By doing so, the thesis argues that the defining features of twentieth century critiques of hereditarianism still shape the contours of contemporary debates about human behavior.
Descrição
Tese de Mestrado, História e Filosofia das Ciências, 2025, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências
Palavras-chave
Nature–nurture debate hereditarianism culturalism sociobiology scientific controversies