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When Is Biology Destiny? Biological Determinism and Social Responsibility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Inmaculada de Melo-Martín
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Abstract

I argue here that critics of biological explanations of human nature are mistaken when they maintain that the truth of genetic determinism implies the end of critical evaluation and reform of our social institutions. Such a claim erroneously presupposes that our social values, practices, and institutions have nothing to do with what makes biological explanations troublesome. What constitutes a problem for those who are concerned with social justice is not the fact that particular behaviors might be genetically determined, but the fact that our value system and social institutions create the conditions that make such behaviors problematic.

Type
Science and Social Context
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 70 , Issue 5: Proceedings of the 2002 Biennial Meeting of The Philosophy of Science Association. Part I: Contributed Papers , December 2003 , pp. 1184 - 1194
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

Thanks to Gonzalo Munévar and Craig Hanks for their comments on earlier versions of this paper. Some of the arguments presented here are also discussed in a paper forthcoming in Studies in History and Philosophy of Biology and Biomedical Sciences.

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