Biology Under the Influence: Dialectical Essays on Ecology, agriculture, and health

by Richard C. Lewontin, Richard Levins

How do we understand the world? While some look to the heavens for intelligent design, others argue that it is determined by information encoded in DNA. Science serves as an important activity for uncovering the processes and operations of nature, but it is also immersed in a social context where ideology influences the questions we ask and how we approach the material world. Biology Under the Dialectical Essays on the Coevolution of Nature and Society breaks from the confirms of determinism, offering a dialectical analysis for comprehending a dynamic social and natural world.
In Biology Under the Influence , Richard Lewontin and Richard Levins provide a devastating critique of genetic determinism and reductionism within science while exploring a broad range of issues including the nature of science, biology, evolution, the environment, pubic health, and dialectics, They dismantle the ideology that attempts to naturalize social inequalities, unveil the alienation of science and nature, and illustrate how a dialectical position serves as a basis for grappling with historical developments and a world characterized by change. Biology Under the Influence brings together the illuminating essays of two prominent scientists who work to demystify and empower the public's understanding of science and nature.

Genres: Science, Biology, Nonfiction, Ecology, Philosophy, Environment, Health

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Richard Charles "Dick" Lewontin is an American evolutionary biologist, mathematician, geneticist, and social commentator.

A leader in developing the mathematical basis of population genetics and evolutionary theory, he pioneered the application of techniques from molecular biology, such as gel electrophoresis, to questions of genetic variation and evolution.

In a pair of seminal 1966 papers co-authored with J. L. Hubby in the journal Genetics, Lewontin helped set the stage for the modern field of molecular evolution. In 1979 he and Stephen Jay Gould introduced the term "spandrel" into evolutionary theory. From 1973 to 1998, he held an endowed chair in zoology and biology at Harvard University, and from 2003 until his death in 2021 had been a research professor there.

Reviews

[Bastian Greshake Tzovaras · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yay: A dialectical, marxist view on biology and science in general. In principle that's a great and interesting topic, even if I feel that some of the attacks against modeling are a bit cheap. Duh, models do not reflect reality? Well, maybe that's why they are called models and not reality? And I yet have to met a modeler who wouldn't sign 'all models are wrong, but some are useful'. But nevertheless I found the general ideas presented pretty interesting and there is a good amount of valid criticism in those essays as well.

Nay: Unfortunately one notices pretty quickly that this is a collection of essays that have been published previously, because there are absurd amounts of repetition. You can only read so often about the insulin-blood-sugar-feedback-loop and the possible reasons for the failure of post-WW2-epidemiology before you go insane and this book really tries to take your sanity.

If you are interested in the topic I'd recommend you only read 2-3 random essays out of Parts 1 and 2, that should give you basically all the info you need and then proceed with the much more diverse (and more interesting) Part 3.

[Rohan Arthur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lewontin and Levins follow up of their brilliant 'The Dialectical Biologist' follows a similar format. It rounds up old essays from a variety of sources and on a variety of topics, held together with a loose thread of dialectical thinking. Their combined lucidity is stunning and their still undimmed commitment to the cause is inspiring. As you would expect from a collection of this sort, the essays are inconsistent and sometimes rambling and repetitive. But the best of them are little masterpieces that you want to read out loud and want to make part of your way of thinking because they ring so true.

[Amber Manning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lewontin and Levin get very political in this collection but I think in a way that makes sense: a fascinating read, particularly paired with Sylvia Wynter's analysis of Darwinian evolution.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another one well worth reading.

[Zhiyuan]

Like it or not, every biologist should read it.