The New Darwinian Naturalism in Political Theory

Abstract

There has been a resurgence of Darwinian naturalism in political theory, as manifested in the recent work of political scientists such as Roger D. Masters, Robert J. McShea, and James Q. Wilson. They belong to an intellectual tradition that includes not only Charles Darwin but also Aristotle and David Hume. Although most political scientists believe Darwinian social theory has been refuted, their objections rest on three false dichotomies: facts versus values, nature versus freedom, and nature versus nurture. Rejecting these dichotomies would allow the social sciences to be linked to the natural sciences through Darwinian biology.

Aristotle, Hobbes and Chimpanzees

“…2). A reflective but not, as we shall see, uncritical attribution of politics in chimpanzees is Arnhart (1990) (also in passing Arnhart [1995, p. 397n] where he cites his agreement with Johnson's (1995) claim that politics can be found in every sexually reproducing species).…”

Organization, Society and Politics

“…The first is that many of his views seem strikingly modern. For instance Arnhart (1994Arnhart ( , 1995 shows how readily they can be linked with Darwinian social theory. Also, the idea that natural (in the sense of biological) tendencies govern social behaviour is close to some tenets of evolutionary psychology.…”

Darwin and the Declaration

“…In noticing and tracing the connections between Darwin, Hume and Jefferson, the forgoing analysis has followed a path recently blazed by a few political theorists, evolutionary ethicists and sociobiologists who have performed a signal service to their respective fields by challenging modern disciplinary barriers that impede the progress of knowledge and persuasively building conceptual bridges between previously segred 12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20 Many gate rea ms 0 inquiry. of these pioneers have, however, sought to establish precisely the opposite point to that argued above; namely, that Darwinian evolutionary theory is actually supportive of and underpins the sort of moral norms affirmed by the distilled Declaration.…”