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Topic: David Sloan Wilson

	David Sloan Wilson, "Darwin's Cathedral"
		Wilson's argument is addressed to his professional colleagues; the rest of us are invited to overhear.
		As Wilson makes clear, "The first requirement for organizing a group into an adaptive unit is to define the group and isolate it from the rest of society so that in-group and out-group behaviors can be regulated separately." (208).
		Religious and political leaders may dream of a time, says Wilson, when religions will encourage a sense of our common humanity, but history and contemporary events seem to be proving to us that such dreams ignore the divisive social forces that substantiate religions.
	www.cceia.org /resources/to_be_read/955.html (1692 words)

	Sloan Wilson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Sloan Wilson (8 May 1920 – 25 May 2003) was an American author.
		Wilson wrote fifteen books, including The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1955) and A Summer Place (1958), both of which were adapted into motion pictures.
		His daughter Lisa is a published author, and his son David Sloan Wilson is an evolutionary biologist.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Sloan_Wilson (242 words)

	Metanexus Institute (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-27)
		Wilson's claim that the origin of the word religion reflects "the essence of the thesis of the book" is a needless, and also inaccurate, additional support he seeks for the ideas he has effectively expounded from purely scientific considerations.
		Wilson recognizes that he is talking about "science in motion," admits that there are "inconsistencies and loose ends" in what he has developed and proposes, acknowledges that his own ideas are as yet only tentative in that they need further exploration for firmer grounding.
		David Sloan Wilson already enjoys the respect of his colleagues in the field, and a good reputation as a no-nonsense scientist for his significant contributions to the field of evolutionary biology.
	www.metanexus.net /metanexus_online/printer_friendly.asp?ID=7175 (1733 words)

	Faculty Spotlight - Dr. Wilson
		David Sloan Wilson uses evolutionary theory to study subjects as diverse as foraging behavior, altruism, and the nature of individual differences, all in organisms as diverse as microbes, zooplankton, insects, birds, fish, and humans.
		Wilson teaches a two-course sequence in theoretical biology that begins with a survey course entitled "Conceptual foundations in ecology, evolution and behavior" and ends with a course that allows each student to build a theoretical model of their own.
		Wilson and his wife and colleague, Anne Clark, were among the first to draw attention to this important subject, which they have studied in the context of shyness and boldness, cooperation and exploitation, and trophic polymorphisms.
	research.binghamton.edu /faculty/wilson/wilson.htm (975 words)

	Darwin's Cathedral: by David Sloan Wilson - BooksoftheBible.com
		David Sloan Wilson's Darwin's Cathedral takes the radical step of joining the two, in the process proposing an evolutionary theory of religion that shakes both evolutionary biology and social theory at their foundations.
		The key, argues Wilson, is to think of society as an organism, an old idea that has received new life based on recent developments in evolutionary biology.
		Wilson brings a variety of evidence to bear on this question, from both the biological and social sciences.
	www.booksofthebible.com /p1777.html (299 words)

	Guardian Unlimited \| Life \| 'I wanted to show how niceness evolves'
		David Sloan Wilson's career as a biologist started with zooplankton in the depths of the ocean and has ascended to God.
		He is the son of a novelist, Sloan Wilson, who recently died but had great success in the 50s with The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit.
		Wilson, now a professor at Binghamton University, New York, first saw this as a graduate student in the early 70s: "I started out as an aquatic ecologist, but it was a very interesting time in the late 60s and early 70s because ecology, evolution and the study of behaviour were growing together.
	www.guardian.co.uk /life/interview/story/0,12982,1004403,00.html (1886 words)

	TOQ-Richard Faussette-Wilson BR-Vol 3 No 2 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-27)
		Wilson chooses “John Calvin’s brand of Christianity as it was instituted in the city of Geneva in the 1530s” in his initial “attempt to understand a single religious community in relation to its environment from an evolutionary perspective.”
		Wilson points out that social control can be exerted from above through force or managed from within by religious beliefs such as Calvin’s catechism that modified the behavior of the citizenry.
		Wilson, scanning the current literature, does indeed find that church groups provide a host of services for their practitioners and that the strictest religious groups, while imposing a greater financial burden on their practitioners, provide benefits that more than offset their costs.
	theoccidentalquarterly.com /vol3no2/rf-wilsona.html (4281 words)

	Amazon.ca: Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society: Books: David Sloan Wilson (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-27)
		Wilson's many examples are fascinating and easy to take, but _Darwin's Cathedral_ is not light reading; although Wilson wanted to write a book for readers of all backgrounds, he has not "'dumbed down' the material for a popular audience," and admits that there is serious intellectual work to be done in getting through these pages.
		Wilson attempts to reconcile evolutionary biology with the social sciences to build a case for religion's evolutionary roots.
		Wilson is careful to note "religion" goes well beyond the role of "gods," acting as a social construct.
	amazon.ca /Darwins-Cathedral-Evolution-Religion-Society/dp/0226901343 (2926 words)

	Amazon.com: Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society: Books: David Sloan Wilson (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-27)
		David Sloane Wilson first acknowledges that traits which promote us to sacrifice ourselves "for the good of the group" are unlikely to spread in a population.
		Wilson claims that the bias against seeing selection occurrring at multiple levels, especially by the way genetic fitness calculations are averaged, prevents most biologists from seeing "group selection" when it does occur.
		Wilson takes a new look at Durkheim's functionalist view of society and the various critiques of it, and finds plenty of archaic ideas, but also notes that the central theme of religion serving to unify human groups remains out of the ashes.
	www.amazon.com /Darwins-Cathedral-Evolution-Religion-Society/dp/0226901343 (3264 words)

	Sloan Wilson Books (Used, New, Out-of-Print) - Alibris
		Philosopher Elliott Sober and biologist David Sloan Wilson demonstrate indubitably that unselfish behavior is an important feature of both biological and human nature.
		Rafaga is the life narrative of Reynaldo Reyes, a Miskito Indian born on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua, a leader of the Miskito people in their struggle for political autonomy and cultural survival.
		Based on two years of face-to-face interviews, the efforts of Reynaldo Reyes, J. Wilson, and Tod Sloan have won the approval of the council of...
	www.alibris.com /search/books/author/Sloan%20Wilson (462 words)

	Evolutionary biologist lecturing - The University of Auckland (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-27)
		One of the world's most distinguished evolutionary biologists, Professor David Sloan Wilson from Binghamton University, New York, will be in Auckland as a guest of the School of Biological Sciences and the Department of Psychology, as well as being a University of Auckland Distinguished Visitor.
		Professor Wilson, whose expertise is in population biology, will talk about "Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, religion and the nature of society" at a free public lecture at the University on 24 August (7.30pm, Lecture Theatre B28, Library Basement, 5 Alfred Street).
		Professor David Sloan Wilson is Professor of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University, New York.
	www.auckland.ac.nz /uoa/about/news/articles/2005/08/sloan-wilson.cfm (502 words)

	Dwight H. Terry Lectureship \| David Sloan Wilson
		David Sloan Wilson is Professor of Biological Sciences with a joint appointment in Anthropology at Binghamton University (State University of New York).
		Professor Wilson received his B.A. from the University of Rochester in 1971 and his Ph.D. in 1975 from Michigan State University.
		Professor Wilson is a past Guggenheim fellow (1986), Vice-President of the American Society of Naturalists (1997), and recipient of SUNY's Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities (2003).
	www.yale.edu /terrylecture/wilson.html (240 words)

	SOBER & WILSON
		Sober and Wilson should have added that such behaviour must have those consequences not merely by accident, but because it is its function to do so, in some sense that I won't attempt to detail here.
		The wonder is that any of the latter kind subsist at all; but Sober and Wilson encourage the surmise that this may be a function of size, since "norms may become increasingly difficult to enforce as societies become larger" (180).
		If Sober and Wilson are right in their claim quoted above, that group selection is required for altruism to evolve, this may mean that it will be downhill all the way from now on for our altruistic genes.
	www.chass.utoronto.ca /~sousa/soberwilson.html (4301 words)

	Re (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-27)
		Wilson designed his chapter to address and then to dispel the epistemological and ideological concerns of literary critics who believe that the evolutionary and constructivist cultural sciences have little to say to one another.
		Wilson enjoins his evolutionary colleagues to consider such work precisely because there are evolutionists who proceed with evolutionary research without attending to the importance of culture.
		David Michelson is a graduate student in English literature and evolutionary studies at Binghamton University.
	www.entelechyjournal.com /davidmichelson.htm (4282 words)

	Darwin’s Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society — Academics — CSB/SJU (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-27)
		Wilson proposes an evolutionary theory of religion that shakes both evolutionary biology and social theory at their foundations.
		The key, argues Wilson, is to think of society as an organism.
		David Sloan Wilson is a professor of biology and anthropology at SUNY Binghamton.
	www.csbsju.edu /academics/lectures/sciencereligion/sloan_d.htm (152 words)

	Harvard University Press: Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior by Elliott Sober
		Elliott Sober and David Sloan Wilson are clear that there are two notions of altruism, as well as two challenges to its possibility, stemming from quite different sources, but their wide-ranging book is intended to tackle both.
		Sober and D. Wilson are two of the leading thinkers in evolutionary biology who have made group selection respectable again and rescued altruism and many other supposedly counter-intuitive behavioural traits, from that contortionist potpourri of selfish-genery, inclusive fitness theory and game theory...[Unto Others] is a step in the right direction towards a truly new Darwinism.
		David Sloan Wilson is Professor of Biology at State University of New York at Binghamton.
	www.hup.harvard.edu /catalog/SOBUNT.html?show=reviews (800 words)

	Science & Theology News - The Evolution of Altruism (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-27)
		Sober and Wilson argue that evolutionary theory solves problems related to biological and psychological egoism and altruism.
		Sober and Wilson offer their book to report and extend "a transition in evolutionary thought” that accepts group selection as a biological basis for affirming altruism.
		The authors define egoism as the theory that "the only ultimate goals an individual has are self-directed; people desire their own well-being, and nothing else, as an end in itself.” The point is made that, although all hedonists are egoists, not all egoists are hedonists.
	www.stnews.org /Books-2050.htm (1067 words)

	Amazon.fr : Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior: Livres en anglais: Elliott Sober,David ... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-27)
		In Unto Others, philosopher Elliott Sober and biologist David Sloan Wilson bravely attempt to reconcile altruism, both evolutionary and psychological, with the scientific discoveries that seem to portray nature as red in tooth and claw.
		Sober and Wilson painstakingly examine psychological evidence and philosophical arguments for the existence of altruism, ultimately concluding that neither psychology nor philosophy is likely to decide the question.
		Sober and Wilson speculate that creatures with truly altruistic desires are reproductively fitter than creatures without--altruists, in short, make better parents than do egoists.
	www.amazon.fr /Unto-Others-Evolution-Psychology-Unselfish/dp/0674930479 (569 words)

	RETURN OF THE GROUP (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-27)
		Since 1980, Wilson has waged an uphill battle to promote the study of how the evolutionary process of natural selection affects groups of organisms.
		However, Wilson responds, a group consists simply of a set of individuals influenced by the expression of an inherited trait, even if the group assembles intermittently and some of its members leave or enter at various times.
		In the same vein, Wilson contends that altruism and cooperation evolve only by boosting the fortunes of one group versus another, whereas selfishness evolves through individual competition within groups.
	dieoff.org /page49.htm (2538 words)

	soulead: David Sloan Wilson
		I thought this recent book (Darwin's Cathedral) was interesting, but I've only read a few other articles by Wilson.
		D.S. Wilson is known as a prominent prominent of the "group selection" model, which seems to get a bit of flack by mainstream evolutionists.
		There do seem to be strong arguments for methodological individualism in biology and social science, but I am always wary of a "conflict" mindset in the world of theories.
	soulead.blogspot.com /2004/10/david-sloan-wilson.html (316 words)

	Powell's Books - Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society by David Sloan Wilson
		In this book, David Sloan Wilson takes the radical step of joining the two, but not in the usual fashion.
		The key, he argues, is to think of society as an organism-one in which morality and religion are adaptations that allow groups of humans to function as a coherent whole.
		David Sloan Wilson is a professor of biology and anthropology at Binghamton University.
	www.powells.com /cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=62-0226901351-0 (184 words)

	New York State Writers Institute - Natalie Angier and David Sloan Wilson
		David Sloan Wilson, evolutionary biologist, is Distinguished Professor of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University.
		The journal "Science" has called him, "one of the most interesting evolutionists active today." Wilson is an influential proponent of the theory of "group selection," the notion that evolution favors the qualities and behaviors of groups, more so than individuals.
		Wilson gained widespread international attention with the publication of "Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society" (2002), a "Times Literary Supplement" Book of the Year.
	www.albany.edu /writers-inst/angier_n_wilson.html (514 words)

	Metanexus Institute (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-27)
		Most evolutionists interested in human behavior do not deny the fact of culture but they don't have a consistent story to tell about it and in many cases its relevance is also marginalized to the point where it might as well not exist.
		Evolutionary social constructivism is a fitting term for the attempt to bridge this gap (Wilson 2005).
		It recognizes that people live in a world largely of their own making but regards evolution as an essential subject for understanding how we became so different from other animals and how the process of social construction operates in the present day.
	www.metanexus.net /metanexus_online/printer_friendly.asp?ID=9167 (7935 words)

	Fictionwise eBooks: David Sloan Wilson
		Alert me when new David Sloan Wilson titles are added
		What can microbes tell us about morality?These and many other questions are tackled by renowned evolutionist David Sloan Wilson in this witty and groundbreaking new book.
		With stories that entertain as much as they inform, Wilson outlines the basic principles of evolution and shows how, properly understood, they can illuminate the length and breadth of creation, from the origin of life...
	www.fictionwise.com /eBooks/DavidSloanWilsoneBooks.htm (143 words)

	David Sloan Wilson: Biography & Resources
		David Sloan Wilson is Distinguished Professor of Biology with a joint appointment in Anthropology at Binghamton University.
		He is best known for championing the theory of multilevel selection, which shows how adaptations can evolve at all levels of the biological hierarchy, with implications ranging from the origin of life to the nature of religion.
		In addition to his own research and writing, Dr. Wilson is director of EvoS, a campus-wide program that strives to use evolutionary theory as a common language to create a single intellectual community, spanning all human related subjects in addition to the natural world.
	www.wie.org /bios/david-sloan-wilson.asp (264 words)

	hot news - Jan. 27: biology seminar with David Sloan Wilson
		Professor David Sloan Wilson - Departments of Biology and Anthropology, Binghamton University.
		There is a very simple framework for making sense of all of these theories, but grasping it requires a "back to basics" approach, including a re-examination of the foundational events that took place in the 1960's.
		Sober, E., & Wilson, D. Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior.
	www.syr.edu /news/2006-01-24_8118.html (155 words)

	David Sloan Wilson
		In this book, an eloquent professor and ardent practitioner of biology offers a cogent and insightful path-breaking theory to account for the powerful institution of religion which has done, and continues to do, much good and great harm to human civilization.
		Examining through the probing microscope of evolutionary biology, David Sloan Wilson presents a compelling case to explain religion in terms of an “organismic concept.” He takes inspiration from
		David Sloan Wilson already enjoys the respect of his colleagues in the field, and a good reputation as a no-nonsense scientist for his significant contributions to the field of evolutionary biology.
	www.rit.edu /~vvrsps/BookRevs/david_sloan_wilson.htm (1584 words)

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