In recent decades, Susan Oyama and her colleagues in the burgeoning
field of developmental systems theory have rejected the determinism
inherent in the nature/nurture debate, arguing that behavior cannot be
reduced to distinct biological or environmental causes. In Evolution's
Eye Oyama elaborates on her pioneering work on developmental systems by
spelling out that work's implications for the fields of evolutionary
theory, developmental and social psychology, feminism, and epistemology.
Her approach profoundly alters our understanding of the biological
processes of development and evolution and the interrelationships
between them.
While acknowledging that, in an uncertain world, it is easy to "blame it
on the genes," Oyama claims that the renewed trend toward genetic
determinism colors the way we think about everything from human
evolution to sexual orientation and personal responsibility. She
presents instead a view that focuses on how a wide variety of
developmental factors interact in the multileveled developmental systems
that give rise to organisms. Shifting attention away from genes and the
environment as causes for behavior, she convincingly shows the benefits
that come from thinking about life processes in terms of developmental
systems that produce, sustain, and change living beings over both
developmental and evolutionary time.
Providing a genuine alternative to genetic and environmental
determinism, as well as to unsuccessful compromises with which others
have tried to replace them, Evolution's Eye will fascinate students
and scholars who work in the fields of evolution, psychology, human
biology, and philosophy of science. Feminists and others who seek a more
complex view of human nature will find her work especially congenial.
