Word: determinists
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...devoted fans will find their author's gnomic mystifications as fascinating as ever. But no one can dispute how sharply Golding has made a break with some of his old habits. Unfortunately, he does not abandon his worst ones. At first, the customary mixture of history, allegory and determinist philosophy seems absent. Golding begins with a plausible version of the here and now, and introduces a main character who bears some teasing resemblances to Golding himself...
...vigorously opposed running the Screw ad. But I also oppose the majority's sweeping and rigidly determinist condemnation of advertising as an outgrowth of capitalism. Of course exploitation of women is to be deplored. Perhaps for porno to be eradicated citizens will have to be taught or forced to be free, but advertising columns are as important as editorial columns in the educational process...
...strict environmental determinist has no use for sociobiology. It offers only a defeatist and counter-productive program. But taking the view that genes may determine potentialities and proclivities, and that individual development, reflects conditioning plus genetic endowment, sheds a different light on sociobiology. Seen in this way, Wilson's sociobiology could prove helpful in pointing to which traits may be affected by education and which results may be expected...
...THREE other attacks often levelled at Wilson's theory. The first is largely philosophical and indicts sociobiology only indirectly as part of a larger conspiracy. This attack objects to the sociobiology stance which insists that humans are passive vehicles for either our genes or our environment. Strongly anti-determinist, the proponents of this argument insist that humans are active agents who shape their own destinies. In short, it is a plea for the power of free will. This position largely ignores the material in Wilson's book rather than confronting...
...18th century, Enlightenment notions of free will and human progress had begun to challenge harsh determinist doctrines. Americans had come to accept the theories of English Philosopher John Locke, who wrote widely on child rearing, speculating that children were not born depraved, but that the "souls of the newly born are just empty tablets afterwards to be filled in by observation and reasoning...