Item: İnsanın Türeyişi
Author: Ege

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Darwin wrote this book in 1872. It's interesting to compare what he wrote about then with what his successor theorists write about today. In contrast to today’s emphasis on universals (e.g., humans are this or not this or that), Darwin notes throughout this book that individuals have a wide variability in physical, emotional, and mental characteristics. Importantly, this suggests variability in biological temperament (e.g., timidity and courage) and, more broadly, in inherited character traits. Many theorists have assumed that we are motivated by pleasure, which we seek, and pain, which we avoid. Darwin does not agree. Some instincts in other animals, and tendencies and dispositions within ourselves, are so strong that they are followed “from the mere force of inheritance, without the stimulus of either pleasure or pain.” “Hence,” Darwin continues, “the common assumption that men must be impelled to every action by experiencing some pleasure or pain may be erroneous.” Here, Darwin implies, strongly, that an internal “ought” drives us, not pleasure or pain. A pointer dog, Darwin summarizes, must point. Or, as Schopenhauer argued, internal need, is pain, and must be satisfied (pleasure). While some today look for the evolutionary function of various traits and tendencies, Darwin wrote that many of our human characteristics have no survival value. They may be neutral or may have developed through (non-survival-related) sexual selection, and could be retained within the species as long as they were not injurious. The second half of this book is entirely about sexual selection, where males and females develop various traits to attract mates and to out compete rivals (this topic does not get much attention within contemporary theory). Sexual selection is separate from natural selection, which applies to the "general struggle for life." The secondary sexual characteristics (traits not directly connected to the sexual organs) are "highly variable (since they are not acted on by natural selection), both within a "race" and between "races." These include hair (or lack thereof); love of ornament (e.g., body paint; "clothes initially were "for ornament, not warmth); temperamental traits (e.g., courage); skin color ("Negroes admire their own color"); and love of musical tones (cadence and rhythm; "poetry is an offspring of sound"). Regarding ornament, "fashion" has an interesting role as it lies at the cusp of conformity to group standards, yet wears out over time, which results in variations, but not radically so: "The men of each race prefer what they are accustomed to; they cannot endure any great change; but they like variety, and admire each characteristic carried to a moderate extreme." Ornament and fashion are related importantly, to beauty and the variable (by "race") of the standards for beauty (face shape, skin color, location of cheekbones, etc.). Darwin discusses at length the role the social group plays in individual survival. Briefly, individual survival depends on the social group; what is good for the group is also good for the individual. While many today discount the operation of selection at this “communal level,” Darwin sees our “social nature,” based on parental and filial instincts, as essential to individual survival. This attachment to the group is so strong that we are obedient to the group's wishes and judgment, and our “sympathy” is such that we care most about “approbation and disapprobation” (“love of praise and the strong feeling of glory, and the still stronger horror of scorn and infamy”). “As a social animal,” Darwin writes, “it is almost certain that he would inherit a tendency to be faithful to his comrades, and obedient to the leader of his tribe....” We have a sense for right and wrong, but the moral content varies by group. Good and bad are what is good or bad for the group. In his summary of our group-centeredness, Darwin sees three main components: social instincts, moral sense (care about what others think), and "imagination" (we remember past wrongs; we plan for the future). As a species, we share an underlying universal form to imprint on the group, but the content of that form – group norms – varies by group and culture (“Although man...has no special instincts to tell him how to aid his fellow-men, he still has the impulse....”). Even so, Darwin observes "that a belief constantly inculcated during the early years of life, whilst the brain is impressible, appears to acquire almost the nature of an instinct." Our commitment to the group is such that it impels us to altruistic acts that benefit the group as a whole, so that our social nature prevails over strict and pure self-preservation. We act for "the general good" of the tribe (not the general happiness of humankind). This other-regarding social instinct to support our tribe and the need to remain in its good graces removes, Darwin states, the reproach of laying "the foundation of the noblest part of our nature in the base principle of selfishness." But, then, he adds, "unless, indeed, the satisfaction which every animal feels, when it follows its proper instincts, and the dissatisfaction felt when prevented, be called selfish." But our tribal nature comes with a downside. We promote our group's collective interest and oppose, and even hate (enmity or hatred “seems to be the complement and converse of the true social instinct”) those who are different because they are seen as a threat. Darwin writes that while we take pleasure in social company, this does not extend to the “same species” but is, rather, focused on those “of the same association.” Yet, even with this emphasis on our biological nature, Darwin sees the capacity of the mind and reason to transcend our negative impulses so that we, for example, can see the dangers of tribalism, transcend them, and commit to “the dignity of humanity.” A few questions and concerns about Descent: First, Darwin states that the instinct for self-preservation is not felt except in the presence of danger. This is interesting as most theorists today would categorize much of what humans do as, ultimately, “self-preservation.” We eat to survive. We defend ourselves to survive. We are social because of survival value. Darwin apparently uses “self-preservation” only when the self faces immediate danger. Second, Darwin keeps sexual selection on a separate track from natural selection, yet he also says that sexual selection is even more important than natural selection as it leads to more progeny. Here, Darwin might be seaming these two selection theories back together as he states that “the better fit” leave more progeny. Yet, it's not clear how this all might work as those less fit can find each other and have children even though they don't compete at the higher levels. Much of the commentary on sexual selection focuses on males attracting females (“charming”) and out-competing other males, but Darwin is quite clear that females also do their considerable part to attract males via dress, ornament and beauty. Third, Darwin seems to have a strong Lamarkian strain. He makes continued reference to habitual actions that lead toward inherited traits, and it's not clear how that matches up with contemporary natural selection theory unless the genetic tendencies that lead to good habits result in greater survival and reproductive success. Finally, there's a strong cultural and class boundedness to Darwin's theory. He makes some unfortunate characterizations about savages (e.g., “the hideous ornaments and equally hideous music admired by most savages)” and women who he believes are mentally inferior. Highly civilized nations, he states, can transcend natural selection and “not supplant and exterminate one another as do savage tribes,” but that does not match up with history or Darwin's own view that whites are superior and savages are inferior. Even with those opinions, Darwin could not help make the observation from his Beagle days about the similarities of the savage mind “to ours; and so it was with a full-blooded negro with whom I happened once to be intimate.” Most troubling, Darwin comments that there are many from the lower class who “ought to refrain from marriage if they are in any marked degree inferior in body or mind.” From the context, Darwin is not talking about those who might be or ought to be confined to institutionalized care, but to those from extremely unfortunate circumstances (“abject poverty”). What or who is deemed inferior is a dangerous line of thought. The real threat to civilized life might just lie with those who have that sort of perspective. Given genetic variability, who's to say that those from the lower class might not rise to the highest levels and vice versa. Darwin worries that “the inferior members tend to supplant the better members of society.” That unfortunate comment also undermines Darwin's sexual selection thesis that the “better members” end up with the most progeny.

İnsanın TüreyişiCharles Darwin · Evrensel Basım Yayın · 2015723 okunma

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