Solidarity after nature: From biopolitics to cosmopolitics

Area of Science:

• Sociology of Science
• Bioethics
• Epigenetics

Background:

• The nature-nurture debate has persisted despite scientific challenges from fields like epigenetics.
• Previous analyses, like Evelyn Fox Keller's, identified terminological confusion as a root cause.
• This study proposes a complementary societal and political diagnosis for the divide's persistence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate why the nature-nurture divide remains influential in scientific and societal discourse.
• To demonstrate how this divide is actively performed and utilized in contexts of inclusion and solidarity.
• To introduce and explore the concept of 'biopolitical imputation' as a mechanism for this performance.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of case studies from insurance, healthcare, immigration policy, and epigenetics.
• Examination of classification techniques used to enact the nature-nurture divide.
• Conceptual development of 'biopolitical imputation' to describe institutional practices.

Main Results:

• The nature-nurture divide is mobilized during societal discussions concerning inclusion and solidarity.
• Classification techniques are employed to perform this divide, influencing policy and social structures.
• 'Biopolitical imputation' describes how institutions simplify complex issues, using the nature-nurture dichotomy as a moral framework.

Conclusions:

• The persistence of the nature-nurture divide is a sociopolitical and cosmopolitical issue, not solely a scientific or logical one.
• Moving beyond this divide requires deeper reflection on the ethics and ontology of solidarity.
• Addressing the biopolitics of nature versus nurture is essential for a more nuanced understanding of human agency and societal challenges.