Edward O. Wilson
Biologist (1929 to 2021), founder of sociobiology, whose On Human Nature (1978) argued that human behaviour, culture and religion are shaped by evolved genetic predispositions.
Edward O. Wilson did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Our reading
The human mind is a device for survival and reproduction; reason is one of its techniques
Their wordsThe human mind is a device for survival and reproduction, and reason is just one of its various techniques.
↗On Human Nature (Harvard University Press, 1978)archive.org All 4 from this book
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Our reading
The brain exists because it promotes the survival and multiplication of the genes that build it
Their wordsThe essence of the argument, then, is that the brain exists because it promotes the survival and multiplication of the genes that direct its assembly.
↗On Human Nature (Harvard University Press, 1978)archive.org All 4 from this book
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Our reading
Their wordsThe genes hold culture on a leash.
↗On Human Nature (Harvard University Press, 1978)archive.org All 4 from this book
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Their wordsThe predisposition to religious belief is the most complex and powerful force in the human mind and in all probability an ineradicable part of human nature.
↗On Human Nature (Harvard University Press, 1978)archive.org All 4 from this book