사회생물학의 인식론적 경향, 그리고 그 대중적 차원들

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Nowadays, sociobiology is becoming a social phenomenon beyond the discipline of biology. This paper investigates the epistemological aspects of sociobiology and its implication of influence on public understanding of life. Sociobiology is not a discrete entity, but has a long historical root and complex relation with the epistemic characteristics of Modern Science and Biotechnology. The epistemic characteristic of sociobiology seems to be genetic determinism. Since the completion of the Human Genome Project, the gene has become a cultural icon of the new age and acquired sociocultural power. Behind the genetic mystique, there are beliefs and desires that life can be reduced to genes, and that life can be controlled and modified by man’s will. The epistemological aspects of sociobiology has influenced the layman’s view of life. Sociobiology reinforces the gene-centered discourse of “gene=life” in the public sphere. It oversimplifies the various complex biological and psychological phenomena into genetic explanations. These trends demonstrate the manipulative aspect of life to the public. There are concerns that epistemological aspects of sociobiology and evolutionary psychology appropriate the discourse of life, and as a result, peripheralize other views of life. The ‘explanation of conquest’ of sociobiology may alienate alternative discourses on life, such as literature, art, and religion. The understanding of life can be investigated in various levels, and the molecular vision of life has no epistemological privilege.

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