Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:40 pm
No, not at all ironic. It's a fascinating subject.
I read very carefully through all your points and took away from it that Gottshcall was only talking about prehistoric societies. My only slight quibble/observation to that would be this: If evolutionary advantage really is a biological urge, i.e. existing on the visceral level in human beings and even possibly programmed into our genes - then it would exist now as despite our sophistication, we are still basically the same 'animals' as we were then.
Of course, I take the point that the urge today could be masked by other motives - political, economic and social. But we cannot be sure that that is the case or really even have any reason to think so, apart from the fact it may have been the cause for war in Homer's time.
The 'spoils of war' amounting to sexual attraction is an interesting argument. But once again, Bush and his cronies didn't need to up the ante on their sexual attraction as far as I can see, either for any evolutionary advantage or for any other reason, as most of them were past their child rearing years.
Rape is considered by psychologists to be little to do with sex or desire for procreation and more to do with a sort of perverted and sadistic power complex. This is obvious when we look at some of the atrocities committed on men by men in the Bosnian war, too unspeakable to repeat here. And even the piling up, abusing and photographing of naked Moslem men at Abu Ghraib in Baghdad was surely more about a sick and inhumane desire for power and dominance over their captives, rather than sex or evolutionary advantage.
Also - does Gottschall say this is just a 'men thing'? There is a much larger ratio of women to men in New York, for some reason. But I don't think that has manifested into any warlike behaviour between the women. I guess they just scratch each others eyes out!
However, there does seem to be suspicion among men that if a women is assertive or aggressive then it is masking some kind of sexual frustration. So maybe they are projecting their own instincts?
Anyway, many thanks for raising this issue and your considered replies. I've enjoyed this discussion.
I read very carefully through all your points and took away from it that Gottshcall was only talking about prehistoric societies. My only slight quibble/observation to that would be this: If evolutionary advantage really is a biological urge, i.e. existing on the visceral level in human beings and even possibly programmed into our genes - then it would exist now as despite our sophistication, we are still basically the same 'animals' as we were then.
Of course, I take the point that the urge today could be masked by other motives - political, economic and social. But we cannot be sure that that is the case or really even have any reason to think so, apart from the fact it may have been the cause for war in Homer's time.
The 'spoils of war' amounting to sexual attraction is an interesting argument. But once again, Bush and his cronies didn't need to up the ante on their sexual attraction as far as I can see, either for any evolutionary advantage or for any other reason, as most of them were past their child rearing years.
Rape is considered by psychologists to be little to do with sex or desire for procreation and more to do with a sort of perverted and sadistic power complex. This is obvious when we look at some of the atrocities committed on men by men in the Bosnian war, too unspeakable to repeat here. And even the piling up, abusing and photographing of naked Moslem men at Abu Ghraib in Baghdad was surely more about a sick and inhumane desire for power and dominance over their captives, rather than sex or evolutionary advantage.
Also - does Gottschall say this is just a 'men thing'? There is a much larger ratio of women to men in New York, for some reason. But I don't think that has manifested into any warlike behaviour between the women. I guess they just scratch each others eyes out!
However, there does seem to be suspicion among men that if a women is assertive or aggressive then it is masking some kind of sexual frustration. So maybe they are projecting their own instincts?
Anyway, many thanks for raising this issue and your considered replies. I've enjoyed this discussion.