Review
"[this] volume is a valuable summary of the 'state of art' in the philosophy of evolutionary biology as well as containing a number of valuable articles critical of behavior genetics, sociobiology, and, by implication, parts of evolutionary psychology." Human Nature Review

"This volume can be read by those interested in the broader aspects of science, the relationship between science and history, and science and politics. It provides a framework, by the example of one person's life and work, for how to situate science in society." Book Reviews

"The scope and themes of the essays in this volume are a fitting honor to Richard Lewontin...More than 25 essays address the social science aspects of Lewontin's field(s) of experience" SB&F July/August 2001

Product Description
This is the second of two volumes published by Cambridge University Press in honor of Richard Lewontin. The first volume, Evolutionary Genetics from Molecules to Morphology, honors Lewontins more technical contributions to genetics and evolutionary biology. In this second volume of essays, we honor the philosophical, historical, and political dimensions of his work. It is fitting that the volume covers such a wide range of perspectives on modern biology, given the range of Lewontins own contributions. He is not just a very successful practitioner of evolutionary genetics, but a rigorous critic of the practices of genetics and evolutionary biology and an articulate analyst of the social, political and economic contexts and consequences of genetic and evolutionary research. The volume begins with an essay by Lewontin on Natural History and Formalism in Evolutionary Genetics. Chapter 2 is an extended interview with Lewontin, covering the history of evolutionary genetics as seen from his perspective and as exemplified by his career. The remaining chapters, contributed by former students, post-docs, colleagues and collaborators, cover issues ranging from the history and conceptual foundations of evolutionary biology and genetics, to the implications of human genetic diversity, to the political economy of agriculture and public health.

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First Sentence
In a famous synecdoche, Dobzhansky (1951) once defined evolution as "a change in the genetic composition of populations" (p. 16), an epigram that should not be mistaken for the claim that everything worth saying about evolution is contained in statements about genes, although from reading Dobzhansky's own work, it is a mistake that might be easy to make. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover

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