The author analyzes modern biological theories, from Darwin’s theory of evolution
to socio-biology and evolutionary biology. He emphasizes their significance for
social disciplines including ...historiography. Studies of recent human history from
Neolithic domestication to modern industrial societies should be based in the theory
of bio-social discontinuity and its two basic tenets. First, humans are animals
genetically adapted to life in small communities in wilderness. Second, abrupt social
changes in recent history, from Neolithic domestication onwards, have resulted in
an increasing gap between human nature and social environment. Anthropogenic
problems—wars, environmental destruction, exploitation of people by people, most
diseases, boredom, loneliness, most forms of violent behaviour—are results of life in
an unnatural environment to which humans are not adapted. The author advocates
the significance of evolutionary biology, by analyzing chief anthropogenic problems
and the existence of basic human needs: wilderness, community, equality and peace.
Darwinist theories argue for human nature as a universal and fixed category that entails
biological adaptation to hunter-gatherer life, affected little by cultural changes.
The theory of bio-social discontinuity opposes two equally one-sided approaches: the
standard model of humanities, which rejects the existence of human nature in favour
of absolute social-historical circumstances, and the standard model of Social Darwinism,
which ignores cultural diversity and social influence on human behaviour.
The author analyses the notion of history within the framework of social sciences
and humanities. He pays particular attention to historiography. History is no neutral
term but a notion deeply bound ...up with the system of values dominant in the
modern civilization, especially with the myth of progress and the belief in the exemptionalist
paradigm (human separation from nature) as well as biological discontinuity
between humans and other species. The concept of history is part of the standard
model of humanities that considers the biological and ecological perspectives
as irrelevant to the study of human society. Human society, within this paradigm,
exists in a separate world of History and Culture. The author analyzes the work of
three scholars—the ecologist Paul Shepard, biologist Edward Wilson and the anthropologist
Robin Fox—who criticized the conventional understanding of history
and the standard model more generally. They emphasized the importance of our
ancient evolutionary past. The author starts from this scholarship to argue for a
stronger position of ecology and evolutionary biology. Ecology recognizes human
ties to the Nature, and evolutionary biology accepts the existence of human biogrammatics
and the importance of the millions of years of evolution of our human
and hominid ancestors.
Autor analizira osnovne stavove i ideje prisutne u novijoj evolucijskoj biologiji zadnjih tridesetak godina s ekološkog stajališta. U evolucijskoj biologiji Darwina postojale su tendencije obrane ...nekih značajnih aspekata moderne civilizacije, poput individualističke kompeticije i agresivne borbe za opstanak, koje su indirektno potpomagale antropocentrički svjetonazor i program "osvajanja prirode". Koncept biološkog progresivizma, koji u čovjeku vidi vrhunac evolucije, također sadrži snažne antropocentričke elemente. Antropocentričku tradiciju u novijoj biologiji zagovaraju E. Wilson, E. Mayr, N. Eldredge, R. Dawkins i drugi, koji podupiru eko-paternalističke koncepcije i "mudro upravljanje" prirodom unutar "prosvijećene" tehničke civilizacije. Ekocentrička tradicija, temeljena na konceptu dubokog vremena i kasne pojave i, do nedavno, beznačajne uloge čovjeka u novije je vrijeme zastupana u Geja-teoriji J. Lovelocka, simbiogenetičkoj teoriji Lynn Margulis, te u stavovima S. Rowea, E. Goldsmitha i drugih biologa bliskih dubinskoj ekologiji. Unatoč različitosti stavova gotovo svi suvremeni biolozi suglasni su u odbacivanju dualizma priroda/kultura, odnosno priznanja ljudske pripadnosti prirodi i značaja bioloških i ekoloških čimbenika za ljudsko postojanje i djelovanje. To je neusuglasivo s modernim mitom o napretku, koji polazi od ljudskog egzempcionalizma i primata kulturne adaptacije, tj. nevažnosti ili sporednosti biologije i ekologije za ljudsko ponašanje.
Članak se bavi pojmovnim i znanstveno-teoretskim pojašnjenjem darvinizma. U drugom i trećem poglavlju predstavit će se Darwinova postignuća i naznačiti razlike spram današnje, takozvane „sintetičke“ ...teorije evolucije. U četvrtom poglavlju bit će govora o spornim varijantama sintetičke teorije evolucije, a koje su važne upravo u aktualnoj raspravi između religije i znanosti. U petom poglavlju kratko ćemo se pozabaviti znanstveno-teoretskim pitanjem o statusu evolucijske biologije. U šestom poglavlju raspravlja se o popularno-darvinističkim sloganima koje poglavito susrećemo u medijalnim prikazima. Sedmo poglavlje promišlja sociobiologiju, posebno granično područje biologije, koje je naročito prijemljivo za ideologije. A jednoznačan primjer ideologije su socijalni darvinizmi, koje se opisuje u obliku primjera u osmom poglavlju. Na koncu, deveto poglavlje sažet će dosadašnja promišljanja u teze. Temeljna će misao promišljanja biti da je evolucijska biologija Darwinova obilježja u znanstveno-teoretskom pogledu posve respektabilan pothvat, iako i ona – kao i svaka napeta znanost – krije u sebi mnoge pukotine i nesigurnosti.
