Harvard University Press Publicity Blog

Author of Men responds to Mansfield

Below, Richard Bribiescas, author of Men: Evolutionary and Life History, responds to Harvey Mansfield's review of his book in a February 26 article for Forbes.com.

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Mansfield says that in my book "nurture loses to nature." I disagree. On page 12 I say "The age-old argument of nature versus nurture is misguided. An organism's physiology (nature) is in many ways meant to respond to a changing environment (nurture). An unyielding physiology is seldom advantageous since the environment is never static.  In other words, are human males the product of nature or nurture?  The answer is yes."

He also quotes my statement "It doesn't take a degree in biology to notice that men and women are utterly different" but omits the rest of the paragraph. In full, the statement reads "It doesn't take a degree in biology to notice that men and women are utterly different. Physical and behavioral contrasts pervade everyday life. Men, on the average, are taller and physically stronger than women. Men don't have babies. Men make up half of the human population, but they are involved in far more than half of humankind's destructive and violent behavior. Men age differently than women do, and men die sooner and at a more rapid rate than women".

He then points out that a "cultural anthropologist, believing that culture, not biology, makes us different, would never make this statement." And he says that I am "spitting into the prevailing wind of feminism and gender-neutrality in Western societies." Well, again, I need to point out a comment I make early in the book "I don't think any biological anthropologist would deny that cultural and social forces have a tremendous effect on how humans, including males, behave and how their physiologies respond to environmental challenges." And on page 12, I also summarize how biology and Darwinism has been misused in the name of social and political agendas.  This is indeed an important point to recognize to move the field forward and to have an honest and open discussion.

As to whether I am 'spitting' into the wind of feminism and western gender-neutrality, I'm not sure what Professor Mansfield means here, unless he is taking a swipe at my research which involves the measurement of hormones in saliva. If that is so, well played -- he succeeded in getting a chuckle out of me. More importantly, it might be useful to read the wonderful works of my colleagues who contribute steadfast breezes to the prevailing wind of feminism. Their scholarly works are evident throughout my bibliography.

I am flattered that Professor Mansfield has used my book as the basis for an overarching critique of the ideas of Darwin and numerous colleagues who make the study of evolution such a vibrant scientific discipline. I do not think scientific authority has anything to do with ethics. My book's purpose was to ask readers to consider information that is supported by mounds of scientific research. The ultimate authority lies with the readers who must employ their own capacity for critical thought and decide for themselves whether the perspective presented in this book has any merit.

-- Richard Bribiescas, March 2, 2009

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Grrlscientist on Kate Jackson

A nice review of Kate Jackson's Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science, and Survival in the Congo by Grrlscientist at Living the Scientific Life:

During the years that I have written book reviews for my blog, I have had the great pleasure of reading some astonishingly good books, especially about science. Mean and Lowly Things is one of the best, and in fact, even though this book is newly published, I think it qualifies as the "classic field biology book" that helps to define and explain this sort of research to the public. In view of my own passion to continue researching the parrots of the remote islands in the south Pacific Ocean, I might be overly emotional regarding field work in distant lands, such as what is recounted in this book. However, by the time I finished reading this book, I experienced intense sadness because I felt as though I was closing the covers upon a beautiful world and a dear group of friends whom I had experienced so much with, and whom I wanted to continue working with.

More on Kate Jackson and more on the book.

Chimps bear arms

Until now we thought that humans were the only animals that craft weapons designed to help them kill other animals. Well, it's time for us to move over. Researchers in Senegal have observed chimpanzees fashioning crude spears out of tree branches and jabbing those spears into tree-branch hollows where bush babies (small, noctural primates known by the more scientific name of "galagos") sleep during the day. While chimps have been known to make tools for more benign purposes--using a a leaf as a sponge for soaking up drinking water, for instance--this is the first known observation of chimps using tools specifically designed for hunting. One researcher claimed that the chimps' stabbing motions reminded her of "the shower scene from Psycho." I guess all we can do now is hope that the chimps don't come for us.

Toward the end of the article, we're treated to a quote from renowned primatologist and HUP author Frans de Waal, who predicts that we'll continue to discover that behaviors we had previously thought unique to humans will turn out to not be so unique after all:

Frans B.M. de Waal, a primatologist at Emory University, said aggressive tool use is only the latest "uniquely human" behavior to be found to be less than unique.

"Such claims are getting old," he said. "With the present pace of discovery, they last a few decades at most."

de Waal's latest book for HUP is Animal Social Complexity: Intelligence, Culture, and Individualized Societies, but he's also the author of Tree of Origin: What Primate Behavior Can Tell Us about Human Social Evolution, Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals, and Peacemaking among Primates.