On Human Nature

Edward O. Wilson was a highly lauded yet controversial biologist who specialized in myrmecology, or the study of ants. Born in 1929, Wilson became fascinated with biology, especially the study of ants, at a young age. After failing to pass the physical requirements needed to join the armed forces, he earned degrees at the University of Alabama and then received his doctorate at Harvard University in 1955. After receiving his PhD, he taught at Harvard for 40 years until he retired, remaining on the faculty as an emeritus professor until 2002 when he stopped teaching altogether and focused on writing books until his death in 2021.

While Wilson published dozens of books in his field of research, his work was not without controversy. In popularizing a new field of study dubbed “sociobiology,” he began to graft new areas of research to biology, focusing on the intersection of biology, sociology, and historical anthropology. His two most famous works—Sociobiology: The New Synthesis (1975) and On Human Nature (1978)—applied his specialized knowledge of ant behavior to that of vertebrate animals and, most controversially, humans. On Human Nature even won Wilson the Pulitzer Prize in 1979.

Wilson’s work incited controversy due to his strict adherence to a scientific, materialist structuring of reality—resulting in accusations of racism, genetic determinism, and a publicly unacceptable view of