Free Psychology Books: Current Perspectives on Sexual Selection by Thierry Hoquet eds

Current Perspectives on Sexual Selection by Thierry Hoquet eds

 

Today, about one hundred and fifty years after the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species, how do biologists, historians, and philosophers reassess the strengths and weaknesses of sexual selection? Answering this is the overall aim of this book. At least two major concepts of contemporary biology originate in the works of Charles Darwin: natural selection and sexual selection. Originally, sexual selection dealt with the competition for mates, while natural selection was more concerned with individual survival. As Darwin says in the first edition of his Origin of Species (1859, p. 88): “This depends, not on a struggle for existence, but on a struggle between the males for possession of the females; the result is not death to the unsuccessful competitor, but few or no offspring. Sexual selection is, therefore, less rigorous than natural selection.” The concept of sexual selection was amply developed and refined in Darwin’s Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, along with several other issues like the “proportions of the sexes” (Darwin 1871; see Veuille, this volume). For Darwin, sexual selection “has led to the development of secondary sexual characters.” (1871, vol. 1, p. 271).

This is fully consistent with Darwin’s commitment to an individualistic stance (Ruse, this volume). More specifically, sexual selection consists of two different processes, “the power to charm the female” and “the power to conquer other males in battle.” (1871, vol. 1, p. 279) Thus, there are two selecting forces within the process of sexual selection. They are usually termed “female choice” and “male-male competition.” The first leads to ornaments, the second to armaments. On first inspection, sexual selection is just one kind of selection, with a different kind of selector: just as artificial selection is operated by breeders, so sexual selection (at least, its intrasexual component, female choice) is operated by mates, so natural selection is operated by a metaphorically personified agent called “nature”. While Darwin’s contemporaries readily accepted male-male competition, several issues were raised on the question of female choice. How could female animals develop the ability to discriminate between males or to consciously weigh up their differences? And, more importantly, was there not a contradiction between natural and sexual selection?..

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