ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author explains in few pages why the majority of social scientists continue to vigorously resist any rapprochement with behavioral biology. By far the most important intellectual advance during his professional life has been the development of exciting new theory in vertebrate behavioral ecology, or "sociobiology." This family of theoretical advances is truly a revolution in understanding of how evolution has shaped animal behavior. Paralleling the burgeoning libraries on sociobiology, there is a modest growth industry in "critiques of sociobiology." The reasons for the attacks are largely based on historical antagonisms and often have little bearing on the actual data and theory of sociobiology. Another reason for social scientists to reject sociobiology is that many of the most accessible writings on behavioral biology and evolution have themselves been seriously muddled. It must be admitted that the aggressive, aggrandizing stance of many of the early converts to sociobiology were hardly designed to put social scientists at ease.
