SVIBOR - Project code: 6-01-243

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Project code: 6-01-243

GENES AND BEHAVIOR: A PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS

Main researcher: SESARDIĆ, NEVEN (42971)

Assistants

JANOVIĆ, TOMISLAV (200803)

Type of research: basic
Duration from: 09/01/91. to 07/30/94.

Papers on project (total): 12
Papers on project quoted in Current Contents: 4

Institution name: Filozofski fakultet - Humanističke znanosti, Zagreb (130)
Department/Institute: Department of philosophy
Address: Lučićeva 3, 10000 Zagreb
City: 10000 - Zagreb, Croatia

Communication: Phone: 385 (0)1 440 884; E-mail: neven.sesardic@x400.srce.hr; Phone: 385 (0)1 175 276

Summary: In the project "Genes and behavior: a philosophical analysis" the following questions will be considered: (1) how should we treat scientific theories with "dangerous" political implications; (2) how to construe the concept of genetic determination, and how to infer genetic causation from predominantly statistical information; (3) how to resolve the conflict between political egalitarianism and the reality of biological differences; (4) what will be the normative status of our entrenched morality if it turns out that it has at least a partial evolutionary explanation.

Keywords: genetics, statistical inference, causation, egalitarianism, biological inequalities, evolutionary ethics, evolutionary explanation

Research goals: The hypothesis that various forms of behavior are genetically determined raises a host of problems. There are strong arguments in the literature that the very idea is either the result of a conceptual confusion or else that that that there is no empirical evidence in its favor. Others again think that irrespective of its possible scientific credibility the hypothesis about genetic roots of psychological traits contains so many dangerous political and social consequences that it should be a priori excluded from consideration or that it should be judged by much more stringent methodological standards than other theories. The goal of this research is to to discuss all these problems in the context of one study. Such a synthetic view has not yet been attempted, and it is expected that a unifying approach of this sort could overcome the frequent one-sidedness and myopia of contemporary discussions.

COOPERATION - INSTITUTIONS

Name of institution: Department of Philosophy, University of Minnesota
Type of institution: University/Faculty
Type of cooperation: Occasional exchange of information
City: 55455 - Minneapolis, SAD

Other information about the project.


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