Re: Human Nature: Born or Made? (fwd)

I just read the NYT article on the web, and it does not offer any evidence
or causal logic for why rape would be beneficial in evolutionary terms.
(I could speculate based on my knowledge of the basic principles usually
invoked, but that's not the point.)  That doesn't mean there *is* no logic
and evidence.  Wouldn't you want to know what they might be before
you condemn the idea in knee-jerk fashion?

After all, there are many things we condemn, such as inter-imperialist
war, which we nonetheless are interested in explaining.  We would not
approve of someone rejecting world-system theory on moral grounds, who
said "War is morally reprehensible, and your theory justifies it as the
outcome of structural forces at the global level.  Stone the world-system
theorists!"

Martha Gimenez' question ("what would a materialist feminist response to
these arguments be") can't be answered based on what's in the NYT, because
there are no arguments, evidence, or logic to argue against.  In other
words, it would just be ideology (as in Mine's carefully nuanced critical
response).  I would certainly hope that Materialist Feminism doesn't rule
out biological determination on a priori grounds, or it should change its
name.

To generate a reasoned response, you would have to read the Nature 
article, not the NYT commentary, (which is about the controversy over
the theory and never presents the theory, even in summary form), and
evaluate the evidence and logic, open to the possibility that there might
be something to it.  Unless, of course, you are engaging in morality and
ideology and not science...

As usual, willing to stir up trouble,

RH



On Wed, 15 Mar 2000 md7148@cnsvax.albany.edu wrote:

> 
> evils of socio-biology! stone new york times..
> 
> 
> Mine
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 08:43:18 -0700 (MST)
> From: Martha Gimenez <gimenez@csf.colorado.edu>
> Reply-To: MatFem@csf.colorado.edu
> To: MATERIALIST FEMINISM <MatFem@csf.colorado.edu>
> Subject: Human Nature:  Born or Made?
> 
> That's the headline of the Science/Health section in today's New York
> Times, with articles about evolutionary psychology and rape as an
> evolutionary strategy. 
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com
> 
> What would a marxist feminist or a materialist feminist critique of these
> arguments look like?
> 
> Martha
> 
> **********************************************
> *     Martha E. Gimenez                    *
> *     Department of Sociology              *
> *     University of Colorado at Boulder    *
> *     http://csf.colorado.edu/gimenez/     *
> **********************************************
> 
> 
> 
> 
>