Popularizing the Ancestry of Man: Robert Ardrey and the Killer Instinct

Abstract

This essay examines Robert Ardrey (1908-1980)-American playwright, screenwriter, and prolific author-as a case study in the popularization of science. Bringing together evidence from both paleoanthropology and ethology, Ardrey became in the 1960s a vocal proponent of the theory that human beings are innately violent. The essay shows that Ardrey used his popular scientific books not only to consolidate a new science of human nature but also to question the popularizer's standard role, to reverse conventional hierarchies of scientific expertise, and to test the boundaries of professional scientific authority. Understanding how he did this can help us reassess the meanings and uses of popular science as critique in Cold War America. The essay also shows that E. O. Wilson's sociobiology was in part a reaction to the subversive political message of Ardrey's science.

Contesting the “territorial aggression thesis” in environmental psychology, ca. 1965–1980

“…Despite these extreme views, for Ardrey, territorial instinct was also a guarantor of freedom and morality (e.g., Ardrey, , pp. 335–336, 350–353; Milam, , p. 72; Weidman, , pp. 273, 280).…”

“…These explanations have included the inspiring progress in ethology and biology (e.g., Cartmill, ; Degler, ), and the wish to benefit from biology's authority (Vicedo, ), the strong dislike and opposition to the overly constructivist or behaviorist picture of human beings and society prevalent in the social sciences of the era (Degler, ; Suttles, ), and the need to find a solid biological basis for human action in order to oppose reengineering of endlessly malleable human beings by totalitarian regimes in the cold war context (Weidman, ). Similarly, pressures to find a common basis for all humans were inspired by the need to oppose racial differences (e.g., Cartmill, ; Milam, ; Weidman, ).…”

“…The connection between territoriality and aggression is quite obvious to anybody familiar with the debates on human aggression and the related popularizations of the time. In recent years, there has been a growing amount of historical research on these topics (Milam, ; ; ; Weidman, ; ; Weinstein, ). Nevertheless, the complexity of various elaborations on and uses of the territorial aggression thesis has not been examined in detail, especially not in connection to environmental psychology.…”

“…SeeAlland (1972),Callan (1970),Montagu (1968),Tiger & Fox (1998). AlsoMilam (2015),Weidman (2011;.11 For example, Edward T. Hall complained about the reluctance of ethologists to apply their findings to humans(Hall, 1969, p. 174).12 According to Altman, humans could for example maintain several territories and be part of several territorial groups, "time share" temporary territories and entertain guests on home ground, unlike animals. Humans were possessive not only toward places and objects but also toward ideas which he called cognitive territoriality.…”

Introduction: Emotion and the Sciences: Varieties of Empathy in Science, Art, and History

“… 2 A selection of this growing literature includes Alberti 2006; Focus section “The Emotional Economy of Science” Isis 2009; Lanzoni 2006; Dror 2001; Riskin 2002; Vicedo 2009; Weidman 2011; Hirzig 2006.…”