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This paper shows how the last twenty-five years of vocal human Darwinism (human sociobiology and evolutionary psychology) directly rejects the ‘selfish gene’ theory it is supposedly based upon. ‘Evangelistic sociobiology’, as Dawkins has called it, argues that humans evolved to be ‘the altruistic ape’. Using selfish gene theory this paper shows that we are born just another selfish ape. Given the ‘gross immorality’ (George Williams) of natural selection, one implication is that modern genetics has yet to face up to our true genetic code. The ultimate conclusion of this paper is that culture makes civilisation possible because it overwrites, or ‘manipulates’, our genetic heritage. We are born ape, but made human.

There is much talk currently about the genetic basis of violence and crime. Yet far from undermining the National Children's Bureau (NCB) position that ‘children are not born violent: they are made so', evolutionary biology wholeheartedly endorses this view. From Darwin to Dawkins, the NCB stance is affirmed. Unfortunately, the war that has been running for over a quarter of a century within Darwinism has allowed certain evolutionary heretics to promote their agenda instead. Between the heretics' flawed understanding of genetics, and their defence of the anti‐scientific concept of ‘free will', we continue to abuse the unluckiest and most vulnerable children in our society. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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