As I read Isaiah Berlin’s analysis of the relationship between Romanticism and Kant (there is one), I find myself thinking about nature and free will. The trend, at least in the United States, is to attribute more and more behaviors to genetic causes. Aggression is supposedly on chromosome 12 (I'm inventing the #), solidarity on chromosome 6, mysticism on 18. We would be automatons whose programmed behavior is passed down from generation to generation.
During the sequencing of the human genome, geneticists were surprised by the number of genes detected. 25,000 at most. Far fewer than the 100,000 predicted.
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/faq/genenumber.shtml
I’m delighted. Humans have only twice as many genes as a primitive animal like the nematode. Where are they all, these behavior genes? Attributing behavior to genes relieves humans of the need to make free choices, but above all, it relieves society of its responsibility to provide social justice, equity, egality. If some young people commit crimes instead of studying, if some fathers fail to fulfill their obligations, if some young girls become mothers too early, it’s genetic. Solution: medication? Genetic manipulation? Embryonic selection? Aldous Huxley?
In the world of research, there is an unscientific tendency to exonerate society, and there is an unscientific tendency on my part to believe with all my heart that human beings can make responsible decisions as long as society provides them with a suitable environment. It has been found that apes that are being harassed by others are actually the most aggressive. If we harass the young males in our society by depriving their environment of the necessities of life and of dignity, they are likely to show aggressive behavior. It has nothing to do with their genetics, everything to do with society that fails them.
May all of humanity’s most beautiful dreams of justice, equality, and solidarity not be thrown away in the name of science.
Contributed by - - Arabella von Arx
