Biology As Ideology: The Doctrine of DNA

Rating:
Summary: I hate reductionists
Review: As philosophy of science this work is very fascinating. Unfortunately it is permeated with rather Marxist ideas which the author seems to cherish. But, as an incissive criticism of reductionist science, especially biology, it is very good.

Rating:
Summary: My Genes Made Me Do It
Review: Author Lewontin, a Harvard geneticist, presents his case against biological determinism, and for a form of social constructionism. Don't stop reading this review if the first sentence caused your eyes to glaze over. You don't need to understand those terms. RCL is simply saying that our social environment is more important than our genetic structure.

And, no, this book is not about Marxist ideas as one reviewer wrote. One is not a marxist because one supports environmental affects on society. He is not spouting Marxism when he suggests that society is responsible for many diseases, and not microbes. Tuberculosis had greatly declined by the early twentieth century, not because of vaccination, but because living conditions and nutrition had improved. The ultimate cause of some cancers is not so much the proximate cause of pollution, but the society that has decided that pollution in the air is acceptable in furthering our society.

Our society is not based on the total genetic activity of its members. First of all there aren't enough genes to begin to determine the billions of circuits in the brain, many of which aren't constructed until after birth. We become individuals in a society. The two most common ways in which children are similar to their parents relate to religion and politics. Are we then to say that there is a Baptist gene, or a Republican gene?

Lewontin believes that the genome project(s) will not fulfill the promises currently being made. His social constructionist beliefs (that science is culturally determined) must be given some credence when he states that no prominent geneticist of his acquaintance is free of a financial interest in these projects. We also cannot assume that mapping the genome of an individual will result in a set of genes that we can accept as a normal reference. You, the reader, and I may be very normal human beings, but our genes differ by about 3 million nucleotides.

The author also states that organisms create their environment; they do not react passively to their surroundings. There is no such thing as a environmental balance he says. 99.99% of all beings that existed are now extinct. The environment has always been in a state of continual flux. He points out that many organisms have had a negative effect on the environment. The beaver, for example, is notorious for its destruction of its surroundings.

A very thought provoking book. I read it through twice which was easy to do because of its 128 page length. You do not need to accept all of his ideas, but he sure stimulates your neurons to form some new connections.

Rating:
Summary: The Doctrine of DNA
Review: Despite some shortcomings, I was thoroughly impressed by this book that I read it two times in a row. I also chose to base a school project on it. I am quite convinced that "Biology as Ideology" might actually have been one of the most important books of the previous century (Yes, I mentioned this in my project). And although it is atypical of me to comment on other people's reviews, some things just warrant correction. Contrary to what one reviewer said, Lewontin never once suggests that "there is no such thing as race" in this book. And although Lewontin has a thing or to two to say about reductionism - - he does not completely resent it. He talks about an ideal view "that sees the entire world neither as an indissoluble whole, or as isolated bits and pieces". It's easy to miss this message because Lewontin does tend to have a propensity for veering off-topic once in a while. I also don't think that it's far-fetched at all to call Lewontin a Marxist. Although he only mentions Karl Marx once in this book, most of his views on society strongly cohere with Marx's.

In our world today, any product of science is claimed and treated as a universal truth. Lewontin encourages the reader not to be mystified by science (don't just leave it to the experts!) And science has never been as "objective" and "nonpolitical" as it claims because it's a product of society. Scientists will view nature through lens molded by social experience.

I thought it daring (and brave) that Lewontin - a luminary in the study of genetics today - should question Darwin's "natural selection", and see more sense in Lamarck's inheritance of acquired characteristics. This book is good because it makes you observe the other side of things. It makes you think.

Perhaps the most excellent point made by Lewontin in his book is that of biological determinism as a way of social legitimization. Biological determinism has been used to explain and justify the inequalities within and between societies and to claim that those inequalities can never be changed. We are being taught that there is genetic differentiation between racial groups in characteristics such as behavior, temperament, and intelligence. We are also being taught that people's genes are connected to things like unemployment, eroticism, dominance, poverty, and homelessness. It really getting ridiculous! There is too much power being blunderingly put on the DNA molecule.

I however, disagree with Lewontin that the genome project was a waste of time and billions. It has helped not only consolidate the theory of evolution...but it has also helped in areas like systematics, phylogeny, and taxonomy. Another shortcoming is that Lewontin's book is more than a decade old - many discoveries and advancements have occurred since then in molecular genetics.


Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: Lewontin does a great job demonstrating not always obvious relationship between science and social/economical/political forces. If you think science is always objective, you will develop a "reasonable skepticism" after reading this book. It is easy to read even for those without a science background. I would especially recommend it to recent science college graduates like myself who read nothing but textbooks for four years!

Rating:
Summary: the politics of biology
Review: The chief thing that this book revealed is how deeply and dishonestly political much of the so-called present day research into such glamor- and profit-making areas as the genome project really is. The book is only a sketch because of the format : scripts for radio broadcasts, but Lewontin manages to provide for non-scentists like myself a series of wonderful insights into the way that social, cultural and much more important, political forces shape the conduct of that research. The science students at the college where I taught for 30 years know very little about all this, and yet it is crucial. The political values have become domesticate and are all but invisible. And if Lewontin is wrong it is imporetant for students to understand why. There is a distinction between honest science, to which neither the author nor I have any objection. What needs to be pointed out is all the self-serving humbug from the pharmaceutical companies (with the aid of government agencies) use to achieve their ends. Lewontin does that. The wonder is that he is so mild about it. It is one of the most disturbing symptoms of rampant capitalism and it needs to questioned at every turn. His account of the complexity of genome research and of the impossibility of finding THE genetic cause for such things as cancer and (lord help us!) "aggresssion" is very judiciously argued. A really splendid introduction to an important topic.

Rating:
Summary: A Nice Propaganda Piece
Review: This book claims that there is no such thing as race. While this would be nice, unfortunatly that is just not the case. Scientists can take a drop of blood and determine if its owner is Asian, African-American, European, Jewish, etc. If there is no such thing as race, then how is this possible?
This book was used in a biased anthropology class that I took for my BA. I only bought it because I was forced to.

Rating:
Summary: Political Philosophy meets Biology
Review: This book is exactly what the title implies - a treatise on how many people in the scientific community (including physical and social science) and in the general public have come to regard biology, or more specifically DNA, as The Answer. Just as religion had The Answer in previous ages, so now, we "know" that all the answers lie in understanding our DNA. This has spread to all aspects of human society, from justification of our capitalist monetary system to modern medicine. To emphasise the point, a quote from the text: "[An] editor of Science, what asked why the Human Genome Project funds should not be given instead to the homeless, answered, 'What these people don't realise is that the homeless are impaired.... Indeed, no group would benefit more from the application of human genetics.'"

This is a chilling statement, and we're fortunate to have books like these pointing out the ethical and scientific problems in such pronouncements. Prof. Lewontin debunks the myth that DNA is the be all and end all. In a wide ranging series of essays, he attacks the claims of the Human Genome Project scientists (I want to point out that he does not attack the science itself, which is fine, simply the rationale in doing it) and others who are trying to find a panacea in understanding genetics. He argues that while DNA is important, it does not define what it means to be human, any more than a pile of bricks defines a house, and it certainly can't be used to justify capitalism, fascism, or anarchical government systems, as claimed by some political philosophers. Or that people are homeless because they have defective DNA.

There are two minor points that I must make objection to. The first is that he seems to imply that scientists (specifically, those working on the human genome) make wild claims as to how much their research will benefit mankind, and society is duped into believing them. While this is undoubtedly the case some of the time, in my experience, the media often exaggerate the claims of scientists to make a better story. "This project will help us understand cancer better, and will lead to better treatments" becomes "Cause of cancer discovered!" Lewontin tends to blame the scientist entirely for these grandiose claims. Secondly, I believe basic research is valuable, thus the Genome Project is important, something Lewontin doesn't seem to want to admit.

Those two points aside, however, this is an interesting and important book, if a little one-sided. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Biology As Ideology : The Doctrine of DNA
Review: This book will cause you to think in new ways, even if you don't agree with the author. Lewontin's main point is that despite the fact we think science is an objective discipline, its questions topics considered worth researching are in fact biased by the culture in which we live. It's an interesting concept to ponder for those interested in philosophy, science, or the philosophy of science.

Rating:
Summary: Waste of Trees, Money, and Time
Review: This was a great read about the utter (and often unfounded) confidence that modern society places on the institutions of "biology" and "science." Since it's patched together from a lecture series and a book review, the text can be a little repetitive and disjointed from chapter to chapter. Still, I think this is a wonderful starting point for more in-depth study about science and human society, and is suited for quite a broad audience.