Sociobiológ na ľadovci
A Sociobiologist on the Iceberg
Author(s): Martin KanovskýSubject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: Sociologický ústav - Slovenská akadémia vied
Keywords: Sociobiology; anthropology; co-evolution; sciences
Summary/Abstract: A Sociobiologist on the Iceberg. This paper is a critical reply to an article “Is Sociology Afraid of Biology?”by Peter Sýkora, published in Sociológia. (Sociológia 1999, No. 3, pp. 375-396) Author presents three main lines of objections against Sýkora’s views. Firstly, the author shows that most of Sýkora’s arguments are defective and non-conclusive ones. Secondly, although Sýkora has presented the sociobiological theoretical background in a sufficient way, he has failed in its application on anthropological problems. It is showed than this failure was the evident result of Sýkora’s insufficient knowledge in anthropological matters (folk-tales, a work of Bronislaw Malinowski and so on). The close analysis provides an evidence that Sýkora commits a lot of factual errors, superficial remarks and weak arguments in dealing with anthropology. Finally, the author demonstrates that Sýkora has omitted a very important paradigm which has much to do with his topics, namely theories of co-evolution. The conclusion to be drawn: Sýkora’s paper cannot serve as a point of departure for fruitful and successful discussion between sociobiology and social sciences. The main reason is the lack of the balance between Sýkora’s serious and justified knowledge in the domain of sociobiology and his quite insufficient skills in anthropology and social sciences. With such a deficit, nobody can deal with these problems seriously.
Journal: Sociológia - Slovak Sociological Review
- Issue Year: 2000
- Issue No: 5
- Page Range: 483-494
- Page Count: 12