If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I?

"If today I had a young mind to direct, to start on the journey of life, and I was faced with the duty of choosing between the natural way of my forefathers and that of the... present way of civilization, I would, for its welfare, unhesitatingly set that child's feet in the path of my forefathers. I would raise him to be an Indian!"

"The old Lakota was wise. He knew that a man's heart away from Nature becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon lead to a lack of respect for humans too."

"The animals had rights -- the right of man's protection, the right to live, the right to multiply, the right to freedom, and the right to man's indebtedness -- and in recognition of these rights the Lakota never enslaved an animal and spared all life that was not needed for food and clothing. For the animal and bird world there existed a brotherly feeling that kept the Lakota safe among them."

"This concept of life and its relations was humanizing and gave to the Lakota an abiding love. It filled his being with the joy and mystery of living; it gave him reverence for all life; it made a place for all things in the scheme of existence with equal importance to all."

"No one was quick with a question, no matter how important, and no one was pressed for an answer. A pause giving time for thought was the truly courteous way of beginning and conducting a conversation." — Luther Standing Bear

Hunter-gatherers likely did not have these profound questions. — Kenosha Kid

Does this mean cells cannot be sentient or if so that their sentience is completely removed from the individual humans sentience? — Benj96

That explains all, thanks. — Kenosha Kid

It's true that The Selfish Gene is partly ideological--I think that all popular biology is inescapably ideological--but it's in the realm of Hobbes rather than Hitler, and with a certain liberal and "scientific rationalist" understanding of the Enlightenment. It has little in common with Nazism. — jamalrob

Dawkins's moral and political message is that, thanks to our unique intelligence and scientific society, we are not slaves to our genes, that we are free--precisely the opposite of what you imply he's saying. — jamalrob

Apparently you've never read it. — Kenosha Kid

Religion-blind, sure. — Kenosha Kid

I still have all of them. — Mayor of Simpleton

But I think it is also important to consider how important it is for scientists to be wrong — flaco

I'm not all that closely related to my cat, yet I feed it, even going out of my way to the pet shop to buy it a special diet recommended by the vet, at considerable expense.

How does evolution explain this? — Banno

Against Sociobiology

In 1975 [one year prior to the publication of The Selfish Gene], Gould's Harvard colleague E. O. Wilson introduced his analysis of animal behavior (including human behavior) based on a sociobiological framework that suggested that many social behaviors have a strong evolutionary basis.[52] In response, Gould, Richard Lewontin, and others from the Boston area wrote the subsequently well-referenced letter to The New York Review of Books entitled, "Against 'Sociobiology'". This open letter criticized Wilson's notion of a "deterministic view of human society and human action."[53]

But Gould did not rule out sociobiological explanations for many aspects of animal behavior, and later wrote: "Sociobiologists have broadened their range of selective stories by invoking concepts of inclusive fitness and kin selection to solve (successfully I think) the vexatious problem of altruism—previously the greatest stumbling block to a Darwinian theory of social behavior... Here sociobiology has had and will continue to have success. And here I wish it well. For it represents an extension of basic Darwinism to a realm where it should apply."[54]

Stephen Jay Gould was born in Queens, New York, on September 10, 1941. His father Leonard was a court stenographer and a World War II veteran in the United States Navy. His mother Eleanor was an artist, whose parents were Jewish immigrants living and working in the city's Garment District.[10] Gould and his younger brother Peter were raised in Bayside, a middle-class neighborhood in the northeastern section of Queens.[11] He attended P.S. 26 elementary school and graduated from Jamaica High School.[12]

When Gould was five years old his father took him to the Hall of Dinosaurs in the American Museum of Natural History, where he first encountered Tyrannosaurus rex. "I had no idea there were such things—I was awestruck," Gould once recalled.[13] It was in that moment that he decided to become a paleontologist.[14]

Raised in a secular Jewish home, Gould did not formally practice religion and preferred to be called an agnostic.[15] When asked directly if he was an agnostic in Skeptic magazine, he responded:

If you absolutely forced me to bet on the existence of a conventional anthropomorphic deity, of course I'd bet no. But, basically, Huxley was right when he said that agnosticism is the only honorable position because we really cannot know. And that's right. I'd be real surprised if there turned out to be a conventional God.

Though he "had been brought up by a Marxist father"[16] he stated that his father's politics were "very different" from his own.[17] In describing his own political views, he has said they "tend to the left of center."[18] According to Gould the most influential political books he read were C. Wright Mills' The Power Elite and the political writings of Noam Chomsky.[18]

While attending Antioch College in the early 1960s, Gould was active in the civil rights movement and often campaigned for social justice.[19] When he attended the University of Leeds as a visiting undergraduate, he organized weekly demonstrations outside a Bradford dance hall which refused to admit black people. Gould continued these demonstrations until the policy was revoked.[20] Throughout his career and writings, he spoke out against cultural oppression in all its forms, especially what he saw as the pseudoscience used in the service of racism and sexism.[21]

Interspersed throughout his scientific essays for Natural History magazine, Gould frequently referred to his nonscientific interests and pastimes. As a boy he collected baseball cards and remained an avid New York Yankees fan throughout his life.[22] As an adult he was fond of science fiction movies, but often lamented their poor storytelling and presentation of science.[23] His other interests included singing baritone in the Boston Cecilia, and he was a great aficionado of Gilbert and Sullivan operas.[24] He collected rare antiquarian books, possessed an enthusiasm for architecture, and delighted in city walks. He often traveled to Europe, and spoke French, German, Russian, and Italian. He sometimes alluded ruefully to his tendency to put on weight.[25]

Overcoming the dyslexia and learning another language was probably my only accomplishment worthy of noting. — Mayor of Simpleton

Gould is a creationist — Kenosha Kid

I don't buy Price, Gould or Dawkin's analysis. Altruism is grounded in empathy — FrancisRay

were [Biden] to drop dead tomorrow the net manevolance in the universe would correspondingly drop by a number of degrees. — StreetlightX