Erik Parens, Audrey R. Chapman, and Nancy Press (eds.), Wrestling with Behavioral Genetics: Science, Ethics and Public Conversation (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006), xxxv + 336 pp. Behavioral genetics concerns the degree to which human traits and behaviors are due to genetic factors, as opposed to environmental factors. The idea that individuals inherit physical and behavioral traits from their parents is nothing new, although the discovery of the gene as the means of transmission has changed the way we express the idea. (After reading their father's school reports, my children claimed to have inherited the "could-do-better" gene.) One issue raised by behavioral genetics is whether this knowledge would have implications for our conceptions of legal and moral responsibility. As we learn more about the relationship between genes and traits, will free will come to be seen as illusory? If we can make people smarter, calmer, and friendlier through genetic interventions, ought we to do so? These are some of the issues treated in this excellent collection of essays, which grew out of a three-year multidisciplinary project jointly sponsored by The Hastings Center and the American Association for the Advancement of Science to explore the methods, findings, and implications of behavioral genetics
