ABSTRACT
Ethology and sociobiology have experienced remarkable growth in their study of animal and human behavior and considerable refinement in their theoretical perspectives. The degree of genetic constraint remains a problematic issue and requires careful evaluation. As an interpretation of nature, sociobiology and related biological perspectives have been criticized on scientific and philosophical grounds for their overly selectionist view of evolution. In the social sciences, and even in the humanities, the perspective of evolutionary biology has gained enthusiastic adherents, particularly among younger researchers, who have answered Edward O. Wilson's call to "biologize" their fields. Wright's attempts at moral guidance, like those of his sociobiological predecessors, are even more problematic, not because they are unworthy, but because his moral preferences, however admirable, are at odds with the theory that is supposed to sanction them.
