Wikipedia

Steven Rose

Steven Peter Russell Rose(born 4 July 1938)[2]is an English neuroscientist, author, and social commentator. He is an emeritus professor ofbiologyandneurobiologyat theOpen UniversityandGresham College, London.

Steven Rose
Born
Steven Peter Russell Rose

(1938-07-04)4 July 1938(age 86)
London,United Kingdom
NationalityBritish
EducationKing's College, Cambridge
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience
Known forCriticism ofgenetic determinism
Spouse
​
(m.1961)​
[1]
ChildrenSimon and Ben[1]
Scientific career
FieldsNeuroscience
InstitutionsThe Open University
Gresham College, London
ThesisBiochemical consequence of L-DOPA administration to animals: implications for the treatment of Parkinson's disease(1961)

Early life

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Born inLondon,United Kingdom,he was brought up as anOrthodox Jew.Rose says that he decided to become anatheistwhen he was eight years old.[3]He went to a direct grant school in northwest London which operated anumerus claususrestricting the numbers of Jewish students. He studiedbiochemistryatKing's College, Cambridge,and neurochemistry at theInstitute of Psychiatry,King's College London.[4]

Academic career

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Following a Fellowship atNew College, Oxford,and aMedical Research Councilresearch post, he was appointed to the professorship of biology at the newly instituted Open University in 1969. At the time he was Britain's youngest full professor and chair of the department. At the Open University he established the Brain Research Group, within which he and his colleagues investigated the biological processes involved inmemory formationand treatments forAlzheimer's diseaseon which he has published some 300 research papers and reviews. He has written severalpopular sciencebooks and regularly writes forThe Guardiannewspaper and theLondon Review of Books.From 1999 to 2002, he gave public lectures as a Professor of Physick (Genetics and Society) with his wife, the feminist sociologistHilary RoseatGresham College,London. His work has won him numerous medals and prizes including theBiochemical Societymedal for communication in science and the prestigiousEdinburgh Medalin 2004. His bookThe Making of Memorywon theRhone-Poulenc Science Book Prizein 1993.[5] In 2012 theBritish Neuroscience Associationgave him a lifetime award for "Outstanding contributions to neuroscience."[citation needed]

Together with Hilary Rose he was a founder member of theBritish Society for Social Responsibility in Sciencein the 1960s, and more recently they have been instrumental incalling for a boycott ofIsraeli academic institutions for as long as Israel continues itsoccupation of the Palestinian Territories,on the grounds of Israeli academics' close relationship with theIDF.An open letter[6]initiated by Steven and Hilary Rose, and also signed by 123 other academics was published inThe Guardianon 6 April 2002.[7]In 2004 Hilary Rose and he were the founding members of theBritish Committee for the Universities of Palestine.[5][8]

Rose was for several years a regular panellist onBBC Radio 4'sethicsdebating seriesThe Moral Maze.[4]He is a Distinguished Supporter ofHumanists UK.He was part of the Royal Society's working group producing their Brain Waves modules on the state of neuroscience and its social framing, and was a member of theNuffield Council on BioethicsWorking Party onNovel Neurotechnologies.[9]His recent books with Hilary Rose includeAlas Poor Darwin: Arguments against Evolutionary Psychology,in 2012,Genes, Cells and Brains: the Promethean promises of the new biology(Verso), described byGuardianreviewerSteven Pooleas 'fascinating, lucid and angry' with a 'lethally impressive hit ratio' and most recentlyCan Neuroscience Change Our Minds?(Polity, 2016). His audio-autobiography forms part of the British Library's National Life Stories Collection of distinguished scientists. The sociologistNikolas Roseis his younger brother. Hilary and he have two sons. He remains an atheist.[10]

Critique of genetic determinism

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WithRichard LewontinandLeon Kamin,Rose championed the "radical science movement".[11][12]The three criticizedsociobiology,evolutionary psychology,andadaptationism,most prominently in the bookNot in Our Genes(1984), laying out their opposition toSociobiology(E. O. Wilson,1975),The Selfish Gene(Richard Dawkins,1976), and other works promoting an evolutionary explanation for human social behaviour.Not in Our Genesdescribed Dawkins as "the most reductionist of sociobiologists". In retort, Dawkins wrote that the book practices astraw manfallacy by distorting argumentsin termsof genetics to "an idiotic travesty (that the properties of a complex whole are simply thesumof those same properties in the parts) ", and accused the authors of giving" ideology priority over truth ".[13]Rose replied in the second edition of his bookLifelines.Rose wrote further works in this area: in 2000 he jointly edited with the sociologistHilary Rose,a critique of evolutionary psychology entitledAlas, Poor Darwin: Arguments Against Evolutionary Psychology.In 2006 he wrote a paper dismissing classicalheritabilityestimates as useful scientific measures in respect of human populations especially in the context ofIQ.[14]

Rose wrote the introduction ofThe Richness of Life(2007) by the prominent American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science,Stephen Jay Gould.

Bibliography

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Books (for selected papers see website Stevenroseonline.net)

  • Chemical and Biological Warfare,1968, Chambers Harrap Publishers,ISBN024559485X
  • Science and Society,with Hilary Rose, Penguin, 1969
  • The Conscious Brain,1973,ISBN0-394-46066-9
  • Radicalisation of Science,with Hilary Rose, 1976, Macmillan,ISBN0333211413
  • Political Economy of Science: Ideology of/in the Natural Science,Editor with Hilary Rose, 1976, Macmillan,ISBN0333211383
  • Towards a Liberatory Biology(Editor) 1981, Allison & Busby,ISBN0850314259
  • Against Biological Determinism(Editor), 1982, Schocken,ISBN0805281126
  • Not in Our Genes(WithRichard Lewontin&Leon Kamin) 1984,ISBN0-394-72888-2
  • No Fire, No Thunder: Threat of Chemical and Biological Weapons,with Sean Murphy and Alistair Hay, 1984,Pluto Press,ISBN0861047389
  • The Chemistry of Life,1991 (first published in 1966),ISBN0-14-027273-9
  • The Making of Memory,1992,ISBN0-593-01990-3
  • Alas, Poor Darwin: Arguments against Evolutionary Psychology,with Hilary Rose, 2000,ISBN0-609-60513-5
  • Lifelines,2005,ISBN0-09-946863-8
  • The 21st Century Brain,2005,ISBN0-224-06254-9
  • The Future of the Brain: The Promise and Perils of Tomorrow's Neuroscience,2005,ISBN0-19-515420-7
  • Genes, Cells and Brains: Bioscience's Promethean Promises,with Hilary Rose, 2012, Verso,ISBN1844678814
  • Can Neuroscience Change Our Minds?,with Hilary Rose, 2016, Polity,ISBN978-0-7456-8931-9

See also

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References

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  1. ^abBrown, Andrew (15 December 2001)."The Guardian Profile - Steven Rose".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved16 December2018.
  2. ^'ROSE, Prof. Steven Peter Russell', Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012; online edn, Nov 2012accessed 6 Aug 2013
  3. ^Rose, Steven P. (2007)."In the Beginning".In Holloway, Richard (ed.).Revelations: Personal Responses to the Books of the Bible.Canongate Books.p.41.ISBN978-1-84195-737-1.Did the editors of this series of volumes of the King James realise that I was an ex-Orthodox Jew, an atheist and a biologist to boot when they suggested that I write this introduction?
  4. ^abBiography atThe Moral Maze.
  5. ^ab"Biography".Steven Rose Online.Retrieved26 April2018.
  6. ^"Open Letter: More pressure for Mid East peace".The Guardian.6 April 2002.
  7. ^Beckett, Andy;MacAskill, Ewen(12 December 2002)."British academic boycott of Israel gathers pace".The Guardian.
  8. ^"BRICUP UK tour Dec 09".BRICUP. 2 December 2013.Retrieved26 April2018.
  9. ^"Neurotechnology - About the Working Party | Nuffield Council on Bioethics".Archived fromthe originalon 13 June 2013.Retrieved26 May2013.[full citation needed]
  10. ^Lifeline: Steven Rose,The LancetVol. 355 Issue 9213 p. 1472, 22 April 2000.
  11. ^Rose, Steven Peter Russell; Lewontin, Richard Charles; Kamin, Leon J. (1984).Not in Our Genes: Biology, Ideology and Human Nature.Penguin Books. p. ix.ISBN978-0-14-022605-8.
  12. ^Jay Joseph, PsyD (4 April 2018)."Endnotes for" Leon J. Kamin (1927-2017): A Nemesis of Genetic Determinism and Scientific Racism ""(PDF).Mad In America.Retrieved26 April2018.
  13. ^Bateson, Patrick;Dawkins, Richard (24 January 1985)."Sociobiology: the debate continues".New Scientist.105(1440): 28–60.
  14. ^Rose, Steven P R (2006)."Commentary: Heritability estimates—long past their sell-by date".International Journal of Epidemiology.35(3): 525–7.doi:10.1093/ije/dyl064.PMID16645027.
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