David Sloan Wilson
David Sloan Wilson (* 1949 in Norwalk , Connecticut ) is an American evolutionary biologist .
Personal
David Sloan Wilson's father is the author Sloan Wilson . Wilson received his PhD from Michigan State University in 1975 and is now a professor at Binghamton University . He is married with two daughters and lives in New York . Wilson is an atheist , but says he writes about religions that are sympathetic to the subject.
plant
David Sloan Wilson is a prominent advocate of group selection (in a modern twist) in evolutionary theory .
Together with the philosopher Elliott Sober , he presented the so-called multilevel selection theory in 1999 , which includes the more widespread approach of selection at the level of genes and selection at the level of individuals and places it as equal elements alongside group selection.
In this theory , the genes remain the “data carriers” via which properties are transferred from generation to generation, but individuals and groups are presented as “vehicles” for these genes, “arenas” on which these genes can interact with one another. Depending on the arena that is important in a situation, different genes can show maximum fitness overall .
The term “trait group”, coined by Wilson, is central here. A trait group is often only a temporary group whose members share a common fate due to their characteristics . In contrast, there would be a family or a people , for example , in which the genetic relationship permanently guarantees group existence. Mathematically , the multilevel selection theory is justified by the Price equation .
In social psychology it has a certain correspondence with the theory of social identity . The relationship to the experiments by Robert Axelrod from The Evolution of Cooperation in Game Theory is somewhat complicated, since, depending on the perspective, this is an individual-selectionist counter-theory (Axelrod, William D. Hamilton ) and an element of group theory (Wilson, Anatol Rapoport ) can be interpreted. Within evolutionary biology, Richard Dawkins , among others, represents a decidedly different direction with his emphasis on genes. Like Dawkins, however, Wilson has often and vigorously argued against creationism in public .
Wilson published an application of multilevel selection theory in 2002, interpreting the history of the world's religions as natural selection at the group selection level. Successful religious communities thus have a secular benefit for the group as a whole (which, mind you, is something completely different from a benefit for individual individuals at the top of the group). As long as these benefits outweigh the sacrifices that each member has to make individually, the community can continue to exist stably despite these sacrifices and even develop significantly more successfully than the environment.
This mechanism is exemplified in early Christianity , Calvinism in Geneva and the water temple system in Bali .
literature
- David Sloan Wilson (1975): A Theory of Group Selection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , Vol. 72, No. 1 (Jan. 1975), pp. 143-146.
- David Sloan Wilson (1980): The Natural Selection of Populations and Communities, Benjamin Cummings / Menlo Park 1980
- David Sloan Wilson (1983): The Group Selection Controversy: History and Current Status. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, Vol. 14, pp. 159-187
- David Sloan Wilson and Elliot Sober (1994): Re-introducing Group Selection to the Human Behavioral Sciences
- David Sloan Wilson and Jin Yoshimura (1994): On the Coexistence of Specialists and Generalists. American Naturalist, Vol. 144, No. 4, pp. 692-707
- David Sloan Wilson (1997): Altruism and Organism: Disentangling the Themes of Multilevel Selection Theory. American Naturalist, Vol. 150, Supplement: Multilevel Selection, pp. S122-S134
- Elliott Sober and David Sloan Wilson (1999): "Unto Others - The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior"; ISBN 0-6749-30479
- David Sloan Wilson (2002): "Darwin's Cathedral - Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society"; ISBN 0-2269-01351
- David Sloan Wilson (2007): Evolution for Everyone. How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way we Think about our Lives. New York. Delacorte Express.
- David Sloan Wilson (2019): This View of Life - Completing the Darwinian Evolution, Vintage Books / New York 2019.
Web links
- Wilson's homepage at Binghamton University
- "Why Richard Dawkins is Wrong about Religion" - Wilson explains in an article in the eSkeptic-Journal the difference between his and Dawkins' view of the relationship between religion and evolution.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wilson, David Sloan. Darwin's cathedral - evolution, religion, and the nature of society, Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2007.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wilson, David Sloan |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American biologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1949 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Norwalk (Connecticut) , USA |