Biology Under the Influence Dialectical Essays on Ecology, Agriculture, and Health

How do we understand the world? While some look to the heavens for intelligent design, others argue that it is determined by information encoded in DNA. Science serves as an important activity for uncovering the processes and operations of nature, but it is also immersed in a social context where ideology influences the questions we ask and how we approach the material world. Biology Under the Influence: Dialectical Essays on Ecology, Agriculture, and Health breaks from the confines of determinism, offering a dialectical analysis for comprehending our dynamic social and natural world.

Richard Lewontin and Richard Levins provide a devastating critique of genetic determinism and reductionism within science while exploring a broad range of issues, including the nature of science, biology, evolution, the environment, public health, and dialectics. They dismantle contemporary ideologies that attempt to naturalize social inequality, unveil the alienation of science and nature, and illustrate how dialectical philosophy provides a basis for grappling with a world characterized by constant change. Biology Under the Influence brings together the incisive essays of two prominent scientists who are working to empower the public by demystifying science and nature.