威尔逊(1929年～)

Wilson, Edward O(sborne)

美国生物学家。获哈佛大学博士学位，1956年开始在该校任教。公认的研究蚂蚁类的第一流权威，也是社会生物学（研究包括人在内一切动物社会行为遗传基础的学问）研究的杰出倡导者。他的《昆虫社会》（1971）除叙述社会行为模式外，还讨论了无数物种的生态学和族群动态。《社会生物学－－新的综合》（1975）中，威尔逊提出他有关社会行为的生物学基础理论。威尔逊最有名的理论之一为，即使如利他现象这样的特殊情形亦可能基於遗传，并可能透过自然选择而演化。传统上认为，只有在身体上和行为上的特性增加个体繁殖机会时，自然选择才会被助长，因此一个生物体牺牲自己以成全近亲其他成员的利他行为，便似乎与自然选择相矛盾。威尔逊却主张，许多利他行为与自然选择乃是前後一贯的，因为牺牲可使近缘个体（与该牺牲生物体共有许多基因的个体）得以保全。故在威尔逊的理论中，演化策略的焦点在於基因的保存而非个体的保存。《论人性》（1978）获1979年普立兹奖，他在书中探究了有关人类侵略、性能力和道德的社会生物学涵义。《蚂蚁》（1990，获普立兹奖）是当代有关蚂蚁这种昆虫的重要着作。在《缤纷的生命》（1992）书中探寻世界为何会有不同的物种，并调查因20世纪人类活动而造成的生物灭绝。

English version：

1929年～

Wilson, Edward O(sborne)

U.S. biologist. Born in Birmingham, Ala., he received his Ph.D. from Harvard Univ., where he taught from 1956. Recognized as the world's leading authority on ants, he discovered their use of pheromone for communication. His The Insect Societies (1971) was the definitive treatment of the subject. In 1975 he published Sociobiology, a highly controversial and influential study of the genetic basis of social behavior in which he claimed that even a characteristic such as unselfish generosity may be genetically based and may have evolved through natural selection, that preservation of the gene rather than the individual is the focus of evolutionary strategy, and that the essentially biological principles on which animal societies are based apply also to human social behavior. In On Human Nature (1978, Pulitzer Prize) he explored sociobiology's implications in regard to human aggression, sexuality, and ethics. With Bert H?lldobler he wrote the major study The Ants (1991, Pulitzer Prize). In The Diversity of Life (1992) he traced how the world's species became diverse and examined the massive extinctions caused by 20th-century human activities.