The Meaning of Human Existence
Edward O. Wilson, 2014
Liveright Publishing
208 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780871401007
Summary
How did humanity originate and why does a species like ours exist on this planet? ... Do we have a special place, even a destiny in the universe? ... Where are we going, and perhaps, the most difficult question of all, "Why?"
In The Meaning of Human Existence, his most philosophical work to date, Pulitzer Prize–winning biologist Edward O. Wilson grapples with these and other existential questions, examining what makes human beings supremely different from all other species.
Searching for meaning in what Nietzsche once called "the rainbow colors" around the outer edges of knowledge and imagination, Wilson takes his readers on a journey, in the process bridging science and philosophy to create a twenty-first-century treatise on human existence—from our earliest inception to a provocative look at what the future of mankind portends.
Continuing his groundbreaking examination of our "Anthropocene Epoch," which he began with The Social Conquest of Earth, described by the New York Times as "a sweeping account of the human rise to domination of the biosphere," here Wilson posits that we, as a species, now know enough about the universe and ourselves that we can begin to approach questions about our place in the cosmos and the meaning of intelligent life in a systematic, indeed, in a testable way.
Once criticized for a purely mechanistic view of human life and an over-reliance on genetic predetermination, Wilson presents in The Meaning of Human Existence his most expansive and advanced theories on the sovereignty of human life, recognizing that, even though the human and the spider evolved similarly, the poet's sonnet is wholly different from the spider's web.
Whether attempting to explicate "The Riddle of the Human Species," "Free Will," or "Religion"; warning of "The Collapse of Biodiversity"; or even creating a plausible "Portrait of E.T.," Wilson does indeed believe that humanity holds a special position in the known universe.
The human epoch that began in biological evolution and passed into pre-, then recorded, history is now more than ever before in our hands. Yet alarmed that we are about to abandon natural selection by redesigning biology and human nature as we wish them, Wilson soberly concludes that advances in science and technology bring us our greatest moral dilemma since God stayed the hand of Abraham. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—June 10, 1929
• Where—Birmingham, Alabama, USA
• Education—B.S., M.S., University of Alabama; Ph.D. Harvard University
• Awards—Pulitzer Prize (twice)
• Currently—lives in Lexington, Massachusetts
Edward Osborne Wilson is an American biologist, researcher, theorist, conservationist, and author. His biological specialty is myrmecology, the study of ants, on which he is considered to be the world's leading expert.
He is known for his scientific career, his role as the "father" of both sociobiology and biodiversity," his environmental advocacy, and his secular-humanist and deist ideas pertaining to religious and ethical matters.
He is currently Professor Emeritus in Entomology at Harvard University, a lecturer at Duke University, and a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He is a Humanist Laureate of the International Academy of Humanism, a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize (for General Non-Fiction), and a New York Times bestseller for The Social Conquest of Earth and Letters to a Young Scientist.
Early life
Wilson was born in Birmingham, Alabama. According to his autobiography Naturalist, he moved around with his father and his stepmother, growing up in several cities and towns, mostly around Washington, D.C. and Mobile, Alabama. From an early age, he was interested in natural history.
As a boy, he blinded himself in his right eye in a fishing accident, eventually undergoing surgery, which left him with full sight in only his left eye. In his autobiography, Naturalist, he recalls that, even though he had lost his stereoscopy, he could see fine print and the hairs on the bodies of small insects. His reduced ability to observe mammals and birds prompted him to concentrate on insects: "I noticed butterflies and ants more than other kids did, and took an interest in them automatically."
At the age of 18, intent on becoming an entomologist, he began by collecting flies, but the shortage of insect pins caused by World War II caused him to switch to ants, which could be stored in vials. With the encouragement of Marion R. Smith, a myrmecologist from the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, Wilson began a survey of all the ants of Alabama. This study led him to report the first colony of fire ants in the US, near the port of Mobile.
Wilson earned an B.S. and M.S. degrees in biology from the University of Alabama and, in 1955, a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He remained at Harvard, first as a Fellow then associate professor and eventually full professor. In 1996 he officially retired from teaching at Harvard though continues to hold the positions of Professor Emeritus and Honorary Curator in Entomology.
He and his wife Irene now reside in Lexington, Massachusetts.
Theories and beliefs
"The evolutionary epic," Wilson wrote in his book On Human Nature (1978), "is probably the best myth we will ever have." Wilson's use of "myth" means not a falsehood but a narrative that provides people with extraordinary moments of shared heritage. For Wilson his use of the word epic, "retold as poetry, is as intrinsically ennobling as any religious epic."
Human beings must have an epic, a sublime account of how the world was created and how humanity became part of it.... Religious epics satisfy another primal need. They confirm we are part of something greater than ourselves.... The way to achieve our epic that unites human spirituality, instead of cleaves it, it is to compose it from the best empirical knowledge that science and history can provide.
(Author bio adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 10/19/2014.)
Book Reviews
The sections about ants remind you what a lively writer Mr. Wilson can be. This two time winner of the Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction stands above the crowd of biology writers the way John le Carre stands above spy writers. He's wise, learned, wicked, vivid, oracular…Mr. Wilson remains a warmly skeptical and provocative figure on the page.... The Meaning of Human Existence is not always this good. At times, it sounds like a commencement speech or a lesser Bill Moyers special. (“In this part of our journey, I propose to come full circle....”) Mr. Wilson’s prose has, over time, lost a bit of its elastic snap.
Dwight Garner - New York Times
In his typically elegant style, two-time Pulitzer Prize–winner Wilson...probes the nature of human existence.... Wilson pleads that we show tolerance to our fellow humans and mercy to the world around us:... “We alone have measured the quality of mercy among our own kind. Might we now extend the same concern to the living world that gave us birth?”
Publishers Weekly
Wilson...asks the question that is the logical extension of his life's work: What does it mean to be human?... [He cautions] us against engineering the planet exclusively to serve human needs, a gloomy dystopia he refers to as the "Age of Loneliness." This book will be of interest to the general reader. —Jeffrey J. Dickens, Southern Connecticut State Univ.
Library Journal
According to Wilson our species was created not by a supernatural intelligence but by chance and necessity.... For readers wondering where religion fits into this, the author....[concedes] that a religious instinct does exist...[but] tribalism is far stronger. A little book with a big message, bound to produce discussion among scientists and discomfort in devout churchgoers.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for The Meaning of Human Existence:
1. For Wilson, science and evolution are the bedrocks for understanding "the meaning of human existence"—this is the book's basic premise. Does Wilson make his case? How so...or why not?
2. According to Wilson, our propensity for social integration—"to communicate, recognize, evaluate, bond, cooperate, compete, and from all these the deep warm pleasure of belonging to [our] own special group”—is hard-wired within us. How have those tendencies given us dominance over earth's other creatures?
3. Wilson writes that "the great religions are sources of ceaseless and unnecessary suffering. They are impediments to the grasp of reality needed to solve most social problems in the real world." How do you take Wilson's assertion? Do you agree with him...or disagree? Do you see a more positive role for religion?
4. Critics have called Wilson a genetic determinist, a view of human life as mechanistic with little room for free will. After reading The Meaning of Human Existence, do see him as such? Or would you describe his views as more complicated and nuanced? Where would you place yourself on the spectrum of genetic vs. environmental determinism (i.e., nature vs. nurture)?
5. Talk about the role Wilson sees for the humanities and their relationship to science.
6. We are "the mind of the planet," Wilson posits. What does he mean by that statement...and what does he see as the responsibilities that follow from that position?
7. Where does Wilson stand on the possibility of "life" (in some form) on other planets or in other galaxies? What threat would earth face from aliens?
8. Is this book pessimistic...or realistic? What vision of hope, if any, does it offer for the future?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)