• Katharina Mader

• Friederike Wütscher

16.4.1998

The meeting’s objective was to continue the construction of socio-biology. Following up on the problems of the gene concept and its many meanings, reconstructed during the first expert meeting on this topic, it was shown that homonymy is valid for other basic socio-biological concepts. The demonstration was based on Pecher’s contribution: “Die Begriffe Altruismus und Egoismus in soziobiologischen Theorienbildungen”. When one takes into account Dr. Weingarten’s reconstruction that “classical” concepts of socio-biology are based on Fisher’s population biological approach (bevölkerungsbiologischer Ansatz), it results in the additional problem of a normalisation of the initial semantics (Ausgangssemantik) of the population concept. The basic methodological problems which were raised during the meeting were further discussed in the subsection “Genes, Evolution, and Human Nature” during the Spring Conference “On Human Nature”. 

Participants: Dr. Armin Grunwald (Europäische Akademie), Dr. Mathias Gutmann (Europäische Akademie), Dipl. Biol. Christine Hertler (Frankfurt a. M.), Dr. Eva-Neumann-Held (Europäische Akademie), Dipl. Biol. Claudia Sanides-Kohlrausch (Göttingen), Dr. Anja Weigmann (Europäische Akademie), Dr. Michael Weingarten (Institute of Philosophy, Philipps-Universität Marburg).