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Genes or culture? A Marxist perspective on humankind

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Abstract

Intense interest has long been shown in the nature of humankind. Are we the products of genes? Are we the products of culture? Or are we something in between? The Marxist position, stressing the dominant significance of social methods for studying humans, is sketched. Then, a number of Western, biologically influenced views are discussed and criticised. Although there are important insights in the writings of the holders of these views, ultimately they produce only a “semiscience”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Philosophy, Volchonka 14, 121019, Moscow, U.S.S.R.

    Ivan T. Frolov

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  1. Ivan T. Frolov
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Additional information

Ideas expressed in this paper are treated, rather more fully, in Frolov (1982).

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Frolov, I.T. Genes or culture? A Marxist perspective on humankind. Biol Philos 1, 89–107 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00127090

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00127090

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