Genetics

Genetics and Reductionism

Sahotra Sarkar

A philosophical, statistical, and biological analysis of the fallacies of genetic thinking about behavior by a Cambridge University philosopher.  This book represents a trend in sophisticated discontent with the cultural and intellectual drift toward genetics as ultimately explaining human behavior, which represents more of a social than a scientific or empirical movement.

Exploding the Gene Myth: How Genetic Information Is Produced and Manipulated by Scientists, Physicians, Employers, Insurance Companies, Educators, and Law Enforcers

Ruth Hubbard & Elijah Wald

Ruth Hubbard, a pioneer in more ways than one (Ruth was one of the first women to achieve tenure at Harvard) assisted Stanton in preparing his article, "My genes made me do it." Professor Hubbard, with her son Elijah Wald, wrote the breathtaking Exploding the Gene Myth.

With their rich array of citations and examples ... [Hubbard and Wald] show how the marriage of science and business ... has created that most treacherous of American progeny: commerce masquerading as human liberation.
—Daniel Callahan, The New York Times Book Review

A sobering antidote to the intoxicating enthusiasm for genetic solutions to human diseases ... Good reading for anyone who wants to learn more about the science underlying the quest for human genes and the political, social, and ethical implications.
—Neil A. Holtzman, M.D., M.P.H., The New England Journal of Medicine

A broad overview of the science of genetics and its social implications.
—Dorothy Nelkin, Nature

Exploding the Gene Myth ... dismantles our faith in genetic predestination.
Madeline Drexler, The Boston Globe Magazine

A much-needed antidote to the daily hype of biotechnology.
—Douglas Powell, The Toronto Globe and Mail

Hubbard and Wald have produced an excelent book.
—Lynda Birke, New Scientist

The Undiscovered Mind: How the Human Brain Defies Replication, Medication, and Explanation

John Horgan

John Horgan, a contributing editor for Scientific American, challenges biological and genetic explanations — and medical treatments — for human behavior (the subtitle of the book is How the Human Brain Defies Replication, Medication, and Explanation). Horgan is well known for his view that our ability to understand the world in scientific terms is limited (his previous book was The End of Science : Facing the Limits of Knowledge in the Twilight of the Scientific Age). His deflation of highly overstated claims about the biology of human conduct is trenchant and accurate, although sometimes his debunking gives him the appearance of know-nothingness towards the possibility of understanding people.