Wilson, David Sloan 1949–

PERSONAL:

Born 1949, in Norwalk, CT; son of Sloan Wilson (a novelist); married Anne Clark, 1975; children: Katherine Barrett, Tamar Elise. Education: University of Rochester, B.A., 1971; Michigan State University, Ph.D., 1975.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Binghamton University, Biology Dept., P.O. Box 6000, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, research fellow, 1974-75; University of Washington, department of zoology, research associate; University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, department of zoology, research associate, 1975-76; National Research Institute for the Mathematical Sciences, South Africa, 1976-77; University of California—Davis, assistant professor of environmental studies, 1977-80; Michigan State University, Kellogg Biological Station and department of zoology, assistant professor, 1980-82, associate professor, 1982-88; State University of New York at Binghamton, professor of biology, 1988—, professor of anthropology, 2001—.

MEMBER:

American Society of Naturalists (vice president, 1996), Society for the Study of Evolution, Ecological Society of America, Human Behavior and Evolution Society (editorial board, 1996—).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Guggenheim fellow, 1987-88.

WRITINGS:

The Natural Selection of Populations and Communities, Benjamin/Cummings (Menlo Park, CA), 1980.

(With Elliott Sober) Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1998.

Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 2002.

(Editor, with Jonathan Gottschall) The Literary Animal: Evolution and the Nature of Narrative, Northwestern University Press (Evanston, IL), 2005.

Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives, Delacorte Press (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

A professor of biology and anthropology, David Sloan Wilson is one of the leading proponents of the controversial evolutionary theory of group selection. As New York Times reporter David Berreby explained: "Group selection—the idea that evolution is shaped by competition among groups of animals as well as among individuals—had captivated him ever since ‘it blasted me out of my intellectual rut’ in graduate school." Once dismissed as fantasy, and still deeply opposed by prominent evolutionists such as Richard Dawkins, group selection has enjoyed something of a comeback in recent years, and Wilson is at the forefront of that revival.

For Wilson, one of the biggest questions in biology is the role of altruism. Specifically, how does altruism evolve while giving no obvious advantage to the altruistic individual in passing on genes? In The Natural Selection of Populations and Communities, Wilson seeks "a general mechanism whereby organisms evolve in order to enhance or inhibit other organisms," as a Choice reviewer explained. Wilson focuses on the idea of structured demes, subsets within local, interbreeding populations of a species ("demes"), and the ways in which these subsets could develop in competition with other groups within the deme, and how individual sacrifice might help these groups. The idea certainly stirred controversy. "I found Wilson's thinking somewhat involuted, his writing style idiosyncratic in places, and his speculation concerning community-level selection unconvincing," wrote zoologist Eric Pianka in Science. Robert Holt, a contributor to BioScience, had a more mixed reaction. He felt: "This book has many merits and deserves careful reading. It is refreshing to see heterodox ideas … stoutly defended within the context of contemporary ecological models. It is clearly written and is full of intriguing examples that beg for fuller empirical and theoretical treatments. However, I believe that Wilson has seriously misconstrued the nature of selection in populations with a binomial trait-group structure. His attempt to force his model into a group-selection straitjacket is certain to distract attention from his many interesting ideas." For Science Books and Films, contributor Janan Eppig observed, "While its merits remain to be explored, the role of structured demes in evolution will undoubtedly receive much attention."

In Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior, written with philosopher Elliott Sober, Wilson further explores the evolution of altruistic behavior. American Anthropologist, contributor Christopher Boehm judged the book "a brilliant effort to bring ‘group-selection theory’ back into the fold. There is a careful and engaging review of the mathematically based biological theories of the 1960s and the ‘expulsion’ of group-selectionists, with all the algebra relegated to ‘sidebars’…. The second half of the book deals with ‘altruism’ in its more usual, psychological sense…. The treatment, while not tightly integrated with the first half of the book, should be of interest to psychological anthropologists." Again, Wilson looks for clues in group selection to explain the sacrifice that some individuals clearly make in helping, rather than opposing, the evolutionary success of rivals within their own group. For Journal of Philosophy contributor P. Kyle Stanford, "Sober and Wilson offer a trail-blazing blend of insight, speculation, evidence, argument, and conjecture which will surely fuel serious thought and discussion in a wide variety of fields for a long time to come, even as the raw ambition of their case repeatedly leaves its supporting argumentation lagging behind, gasping and racing to catch up." Choice reviewer R.R. Cornelius concluded: "Whether or not they agree with the authors, readers will be impressed by the breadth of the analysis and, especially, the extraordinary clarity of the presentation."

Wilson has also delved into another area of biological anthropology that is fraught with controversy: the evolutionary origins of religion. In Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society, Wilson again finds group selection as a key part of the explanation. "According to Wilson, a religion is the human equivalent of a pack of lions: by cooperating as a group, people attain benefits beyond their reach as individuals," explained Times Literary Supplement contributor Jerry Coyne. According to Coyne, Wilson "sees religion as the product of two forms of group selection, only one of them involving biological evolution. The persistence and spread of religions supposedly results from cultural group selection, a process having nothing to do with genetics. Underpinning this cultural evolution, however, is a panoply of human behaviors and beliefs that, according to Wilson, evolved by natural selection." After explaining these twin perspectives, Wilson examines them against such real-world examples as the persistence of Judaism, the success of the early Christian Church, and the water temple system in Bali, which ensures an egalitarian distribution of this precious resource. He also explores the cultural benefits of the Christian doctrine of forgiveness. For some, the results were disappointing. American Scientist contributors Karen and Ronald Numbers wrote: "We find Darwin's Cathedral unconvincing, both biologically and historically. It is not so much that it's offensive or wrong as that it is irrelevant to a useful understanding of religion." Others, including the well-known historian Jared Diamond, found it more worthwhile. "A great virtue of Wilson's book is the scrupulous fairness with which he treats controversial matters. He is careful to define concepts, to assess both their range of applicability and their limitations, and to avoid posturing, misrepresentations, exaggerated claims, and cheap rhetorical devices. Thus Wilson's book is more than just an attempt to understand religion. Even to readers with no interest in either religion or science, his book can serve as a model of how to discuss controversial subjects honestly," commented Diamond in the New York Review of Books.

Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives was equally admired. A writer for Publishers Weekly considered it the most accessible and wide-ranging of Wilson's books on evolution, and commended its "cheerful antidote" to writing that positions evolution as the enemy of religion. New York Times Book Review contributor Natalie Angier also admired Wilson's "decidedly refreshing" approach, noting his ability to demonstrate Darwinism at work in the "real world." Wilson particularly emphasizes the subject of altruism in this book, arguing that "goodness can evolve, at least when the appropriate conditions are met." Cells work together to keep bodies healthy, he explains; in similar ways, groups of animals can and do work together for mutual benefit. As Angier noted, Wilson is an optimist who believes "that the entire human race can evolve the culturally primed if not genetically settled incentive to see our futures for what they are, inexorably linked on the lone blue planet we share." David Pitt, writing in Booklist, observed that though some evolutionary scientists would object to Wilson's thesis, his book is "nevertheless ambitious, thoughtful, and intellectually stimulating." Evolution for Everyone, according to New Scientist contributor Rowan Hooper, is illuminating even for readers who already accept Darwinian theory. "If only everyone would read [this] book," Hooper concluded.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Anthropologist, September, 1999, Christopher Boehm, review of Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior, pp. 702-703.

American Scientist, March-April, 2003, Karen and Ronald Numbers, review of Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society, p. 174.

BioScience, January, 1981, Robert Holt, review of The Natural Selection of Populations and Communities, p. 66.

Booklist, March 1, 2007, David Pitt, review of Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives, p. 48.

Choice, June, 1980, review of The Natural Selection of Populations and Communities, p. 563; July-August, 1999, R.R. Cornelius, review of Unto Others, p. 2023; June, 2006, J.P. O'Grady, review of The Literary Animal: Evolution and the Nature of Narrative, p. 1821.

JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, March 22, 2006, "Literature," p. 1457.

Journal of Philosophy, January, 2001, P. Kyle Stanford, review of Unto Others, pp. 43-47.

Library Journal, April 1, 2007, Walter L. Cressler, review of Evolution for Everyone, p. 114.

Nature, May 11, 2006, Rebecca Goldstein, review of The Literary Animal, p. 160; May 31, 2007, "Selling Evolution," p. 533.

New Scientist, April 7, 2007, Rowan Hooper, "Daily Dose of Darwin," p. 52.

New York Review of Books, November 7, 2002, Jared Diamond, "The Religious Success Story," pp. 30-32.

New York Times, September, 1996, David Berreby, "Enthralling or Exasperating: Select One," pp. 1392-1394.

New York Times Book Review, April 8, 2007, Natalie Angier, "Sociable Darwinism."

Publishers Weekly, January 15, 2007, review of Evolution for Everyone, p. 41.

Reference & Research Book News, February, 2006, review of The Literary Animal.

Science, March 21, 1980, Eric Pianka, review of The Natural Selection of Populations and Communities, p. 1339-1340; February 3, 2006, "Reading with Selection in Mind," p. 612.

Science Books and Films, November, 1980, Janan Eppig, review of The Natural Selection of Populations and Communities, p. 76.

Times Literary Supplement, November 1, 2002, Jerry Coyne, "They Shall Have Their Awards on Earth, Too," p. 31.