Philosophico-methodological reductionism: The alleged case against culturology

Abstract

The contemporary human Sociobiology debate offers a number of papers in which critics have attempted a “philosophical refutation” of the Sociobiological programme, either in general, or specifically with regards to the explanation and understanding of human behaviour. The epistemological and methodological criticisms advanced against both a human Sociobiology and Sociobiology in general (summarized in [Ruse, 1979]), have been advanced to establish the claim that Sociobiology is epistemologically and methodologically flawed, and that because of this the major theoretical claims either human Sociobiology or Sociobiology in general are vitiated. The discipline is taken to be untenable; I say in such a situation that a philosophical refutation has occurred. In a situation where a debater D supports a position P1 and advances philosophical arguments against a competing position P2 such that the conclusion that P2 is philosophically unsatisfactory is rationally justified, and P1 is itself supported by philosophical arguments indicating that a set of philosophical objections against it can be rebutted, a philosophico-methodological reduction of P2 by P1 has occurred.