Isadore Nabi - Controversy

Controversy

In 1981, Nabi had a letter published in Nature complaining that Richard Dawkins suggested both that we were "robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes ... they control us body and mind" and that we need to fight against the tendencies of our genes. Similarly, E. O. Wilson has said that neurobiology provided "a genetically accurate and hence completely fair code of ethics" but also warned against the naturalistic fallacy.

Wilson complained to Nature magazine that Nabi was an invented character and insisted that he "lifted the two 1975 phrases of mine out of context in a way that reverses the meaning of one". The editors suggested that Nabi was a pseudonym of Lewontin's. Lewontin wrote to insist he was not "Isidore Nabi", citing Nabi's biography in American Men and Women of Science and editorial board position on Evolutionary Theory. Isidore Nabi replied to insist that he was not Isadore Nabi, the author of the letter.

This all led to a Nature editorial in the fall of 1981 which stated that Nabi was the pen name of Richard Lewontin, Leigh van Valen, and Richard Lester and decrying its use as deceptive. Richard Lester wrote an outraged reply insisting that he had not been involved at all and suggesting Nature was irresponsible in not checking with him first. The editors suggested that Richard Lester was a pseudonym of Richard Levins.