Page 675 - Atlas of Creation Volume 3

Harun Yahya

THE "EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY" ERROR

n the wake of The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man, a great many evolutionists began spec-

ulating how human social behavior, emotions, judgments and ideas—all attributes of the human
I spirit—might have been shaped by evolution. According to the most widespread error, if our bod-
ies' appearance and functioning were shaped by evolution, then the behavior our bodies exhibit must
have been shaped by evolution, too. Evolutionists, unable to account for how the biological structures

in living things came into being, now began inventing tales regarding the so-called evolution of the hu-
man soul.
In The Descent of Man Darwin claimed that in the future, evolution would constitute the foundation
of psychology, and expressed his illusory claim in these terms:

In the distant future I see open fields for far more important researches. Psychology will be based on a new

foundation, that of the necessary acquirement of each mental power and capacity by gradation. Light will be
thrown on the origin of man and his history. 181

The first comprehensive initiative to account for the origins of human and animal behavior in evo-
lutionary terms came from Harvard entomologist Edward O. Wilson. Despite the complete failure of
Wilson's initiative, it came to be known as "sociobiology."

In Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, published in 1975, Wilson maintained that animal behavior had a
completely biological foundation. Basing his error on biological evolution, he thought that particular
genes controlled human and animal behavior. His true field of expertise was in-
sects, which he referred to in the first 26 chapters of his book. In the 27th chapter,
he attempted to adapt these claims to human beings. His 1978 book Human

Nature speculated that human genes were responsible for such behavior as ha-
tred, aggression, xenophobia, amicability, homosexuality and characteristic dif-
ferences between men and women. None of Wilson's claims went any further

than conjecture.
None of the claims made by him and his supporters have ever been
backed up by scientific findings. On the contrary, all scientific data have
shown that his ideas are utterly mistaken.
Another of Wilson's unscientific claims is that living things are noth-

ing more than gene carriers, and that their most important responsibility
is to transmit those genes to subsequent generations. In his view, evolu-

E. O. Wilson and his book
Sociobiology: A New Synthesis

Adnan Oktar 673