Welcome to the
I. Animal Nature, Human Nature
1. p. 7, line 3. Do you agree with the statement, "Life of any kind is infinitely more interesting than almost any conceivable variety of inanimate matter"? Why or why not?
2. What myths/stories about nature/animals have you heard? Did they have any impact on your life?
3. Where have you encountered nature? TV, zoos, parks, backyard, "vacant" lot? How do you respond to "wild" things?
4. What evidence does Wilson give that humans have evolved an innate response to "pay attention" at the very least, to the presence of snakes?
5. What point is Wilson trying to make by comparing ant and human social organization? See pages 49, 58-59, 64, 69.
1. How does Wilson reconcile the existence of altruism in humans with Darwinian theory? (See kin selection, reciprocal altruism).
2. Do you think that Wilson's hypothesis regarding the evolution of homosexuality is plausible?
3. Summarize Wilson's argument beginning at the bottom of p. 88 and continuing to the middle of p. 90.
4. What is the "naturalistic fallacy" (p. 93)?
5. How does cultural transmission (evolution) differ from genetic evolution?
6. p. 107, Wilson states flatly, ". . .culture is ultimately a biological product" and further develops that thesis in his leading paragraph. Do you agree?
7. p. 116-118. Describe how Wilson's example relating vision and language supports his thesis above (#6).
8. What is the central thesis of the chapter "The Bird of Paradise: the Hunter and the Poet"? How does Wilson see art and science as similar? Do you agree?
1. Wilson has hypothesized the existence of "biophilia." What is biophilia? Do you think he makes a good case for its existence? Are you biophilic?
2. What does Wilson mean by "gene-culture coevolution?" (see p. 167 for a nice summary).
3. Wilson states that the question of a species right to exist depends on how we view our own moral values, ". . . the most fundamental question of all, whether moral values exist apart from humanity . . . or whether they are idiosyncratic constructs that evolved in the human mind through natural selection . . ." (p. 175). Does Wilson answer his own question? How would you answer it?
4. How do you react to Wilson's statement in the first full paragraph of p. 186?
5. What is the exemptionalist view? What politicians or other leaders can you think of who adopt this view? Are you an exemptionalist or environmentalist?