Biological determinists believe environmental factors have no influence on a person. According to biological determinists, social categories like gender, race, sexuality, and disability are based on biology and this justifies the oppression and control of specific groups of people.
This perspective implies that an individual's path in life is determined from birth, and therefore, that we lack free will. Biological determinism also referred to as biologism, biodeterminism, or genetic determinism is the theory that an individual's characteristics and behavior are determined exclusively by biological factors.
In addition, environmental, social, and cultural factors do not play a role in shaping an individual, according to the theory. Biological determinism implies that the divergent circumstances of various groups in society, including those from different races, classes, genders, and sexual orientations, are inborn and predetermined by biology.
As a result, biological determinism has been used to justify white supremacy, gender discrimination, and other biases against groups of people. Today, the theory has been scientifically discredited. In his book refuting biological determinismThe Mismeasure of Manevolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould asserted that the researchers who found evidence for biological determinism were most likely influenced by their own biases.
Yet, biological determinism still rears its head in current debates about hot button issues like racial categorization, sexual orientation, gender equality, and immigration. And many scholars continue to uphold biological determinism to advance ideas about intelligence, human aggression, and racial, ethnic, and gender differences.
The roots of biological determinism stretch back to ancient times. In PoliticsGreek philosopher Aristotle BCE claimed that the distinction between rulers and the ruled is evident at birth. The first to Blandat och udda and categorize the human race was Swedish scientist Carolus Linnaeus inand many others soon followed the trend.
At the time, assertions of biological determinism were mainly based on ideas about heredity. However, the tools needed to directly study heredity were not yet available, so physical features, like facial angle and cranium ratio, were instead associated with various internal traits.
For example, in the study Crania AmericanaSamuel Morton studied over skulls in an attempt to prove the "natural superiority" of Caucasians over other races. This research, which sought to establish racial hierarchy in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, has since been debunked.
However, some scientific findings continued to be manipulated to support assertions about racial differences, such as Charles Darwin's ideas about natural selection. Such thinking was used to support racist policies, which were viewed as a simple extension of natural law.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, biological determinism reduced any traits that were undesirable to faulty genes. These included both physical conditions, such as cleft palate and clubfoot, as well as socially unacceptable behaviors and psychological issues, like criminality, intellectual disability, and bipolar disorder.
No overview of biological determinism would be complete without discussing one of its most well-known movements: eugenics. Francis Galtona British naturalist, originated the term in Like the social Darwinists, his ideas were influenced by the theory of natural selection.
Yet, while social Darwinists were willing to wait for survival of the fittest to do its work, eugenicists wanted to push the process along.