THE TANGLED WING:
BIOLOGY AND HUMAN DESTINY
"The contents of this book are
known to be dangerous." V/ith this
statement, Melvin Konner, a biological
anthropologist and author of The
Tangled Wing ; Biological Constraints
on the Human Spirit (Harper, Colophon
Books, 1983) , confronts the serious
reader consulting the footnotes for the
first time. The subject of the book,
the biological aspects and determinants
of human behavior, is indeed considered
dangerous by many--dangerous to
fairness, to decency, to equality of
opportunity, and to the fragile
co-existence of different peoples in a
nuclear world.
If we concede that behavior is at
all determined or even constrained by
physiology, or anatomy, themselves
determined in part by genes, then might
not populations differ genetically in
behavior just as they do in other
genetically influenced traits? And
behavioral genetics has a terrible
history of misuse by social planners.
It is only a short leap from the idea
of inherited controls, or Units on
behavior, to the conclusion that
differences between the behavior or
performance of different groups are
inborn and cannot be changed. From
that conclusion to the systematic
neglect, oppression, or slaughter of
"inferior" groups is a road too often
taken in our century.
From its founding as an academic
discipline, American anthropology has
come down squarely on the other side.
Anthropologists have stressed the
shaping of a person's behavior by his
or her culture. They have argued that
hereditary differences in behavior
among human populations do not exist.
In large part, the statements of
anthropologists on the respective
determining roles of race and culture
have had a beneficial effect in
eradicating prejudice and in
instigating social programs to overcome
disadvantage. So why should an
anthropologist, even a biological one,
argue the case for biological
constraints on human behavior? Quite
simply, the case has become too strong
too ignore. And an understanding of
our biological heritage may yet be the
key to our future humanity in all the
senses of that word.
In The Tangled Wing , Konner
integrates insights from the social
sciences (anthropology, sociology,
psychology) , the biological sciences
(ethology, evolutionary theory,
neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and
biochemistry), and the humanities
(history, literature, philosophy) to
examine human thought, mood, and action
on many levels. An anthropological
perspective, both cross-cultural and
evolutionary, is clear at the outset.
In the section "The Quest for the
Natural" the. San (bushmen) are seen as
in some way representative of the way
of life lived by our evolving
ancestors whose progress is briefly
reviewed in "The Crucible." Equally
emphasized, however, is the viewpoint
of biology. Konner discusses the role
of evolutionary processes and
inheritance in the determination of
social behavior ( sociobiology) , and the
anatomy and physiology of the brain in
relation to both behavioral
consequences and genetic variations.
In light of the two perspectives
of anthropology and biology, Konner
proceeds to review current theories on
the origins, anatomy, physiology, and
purpose of sex differences ("The Beast
with Two Backs"); human emotions ("The
Well of Feeling"); and our most
characteristic trait, language
("Logos") whose uniqueness is not
diminished by its presence, in very
attenuated form, in our animal
relations near and far. As the book
progresses, Konner presents science as
perhaps the most fundamental form of
humanism. Science seeks not to reduce
the human condition to a series of
biological processes but to extoll and
explore the furthest potential of the
human mind, to recognize the limits of
the knowable, and to keep alive a sense
of wonder and mystery. In the first
efforts of a baby to name the objects
of her universe,
"what we are looking at is the
most rudimentary form of what may be
the key to being human: a sort of
wonderment at the spectacle of the
world, and its apprehensibility by the
mind; a focusing, for the purpose of
elevation; an intelligent waking dream.
In that capacity, it seems to me, we
find our greatest distinction, and in
that, and that alone, may be our
salvation."
Part II of The Tangled V'ing takes
up one by one the biological basis of
seven human emotions: rage, fear, joy,
lust, love, grief, and gluttony. Each
discussion moves from historical views
to new explanations; from the societal
level of human interaction to the
psychology of the individual to the
molecular level of brain biochemistry;
from the conclusions of rigorous
laboratory investigation to the
insights of poetry. Konner also
examines the existence of such states
as grief, love, and joy in non- human
societies, especially those of our
nearest animal relatives, pointing out
as well what we know of these emotions'
accompanying physiology. Each chapter
ends on a dual note: the biological
continuity we share with other species
and our human uniqueness. Although the
latter may also derive in part from our
biology, it is ultimately mysterious.
"What we must hope for, with
[V/allace] Stevens, is some sort of
recognition that the grieving is part
of what makes life precious, that we
would not love life nearly so well
without it. We could perhaps be less
angry at it. We could try, at least,
to stop taking it out on each other.
Perhaps we could get together sometime
and shout turbulent praises at the
sun."
In a similar way, the chapter on
gluttony ends on a note of anguish for
the children of our middle class
society whose endless and insatiable
demands for material goods, encouraged
by us, are beyond all reasonable needs
of the human organism. If we do not
teach them to distinguish need from
want, fear, or anger, "we leave them
languishing eternally, like Ciacco [the
glutton of Dante's Inferno ] , in the
rain; a vividly Dantesque fate in which
the very source of life's plenty
becomes an instrument of torture
without end."
Overall the book is beautifully
written and displays a broad range of
humanistic and scientific scholarship,
a worthy successor to the tradition of
such anthropological writers as Loren
Eiseley. Yet the sections dealing with
physiology, and biochemistry will be
tough going for those unfamiliar with
the rudiments of these sciences. In
large part, this is due to the total
lack of illustrations, which in turn
suggests that our reliance on "Logos"
can always be improved with some
communication along a more common
an ima 1 channe 1
.
(continued on p. 6)
H«*»««f'8V
In the concluding sections, Konner
faces and argues down the chimera of
biological determinism. Behavioral
biology is dangerous, difficult, and
potentially explanatory. It flies in
the face of seventy years of
anti-biological- re due ti on ism arguments
in American anthropology. Yet our
biology includes our plasticity, by
which biological, environmental, and
cultural forces change and direct our
individual natures and our common
behavior. While the biology of
behavior could lead to pessimism about
the perf ec tabil ity of human society,
not to understand our biology is to
lose control of our destiny. Our
biological potential and our destiny
together are "the tangled wing" of the
title, the twisted fossilized wing of
an archaeopteryx , "a piss-poor reptile
and not very much of a bird" but the
herald of a magnificent future.
Alison S. Brooks