THE POLITICS OF ETHOLOGY

While the academic discussion of gender and family issues often adopts the contractarian and consensual approach of liberalism, the work of Stephen R. L. Clark provides an interesting contrast. Clark turns to e thology as a guide to modes of social existence congruent with our evo lutionary nature. Although an Aristotelian, Clark is not a sexist in a rguing that household life is more important than what moderns call '' political'' life. Clark is premature, however, in accusing liberals wh o defend the rights of individuals of ignoring the ethological evidenc e. Liberals need not so emphasize the individual that they destroy the family as the locus of moral education.