The Bowerbirds and the Bees: Miller on Art, Altruism, and Sexual Selection

Author: Driscoll, Catherine

Source: Philosophical Psychology, Volume 19, Number 4, August 2006 , pp. 507-526(20)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

Geoffrey Miller argues that we can account for the evolution of human art and altruism via the action of sexual selection. He identifies five characteristics supposedly unique to sexual adaptations: fitness indicating cost; involvement in courtship; heritability; variability; and sexual differentiation. Miller claims that art and altruism possess these characteristics. I argue that not only does he not demonstrate that art and altruism possess these characteristics, one can also explain the origins of altruism via a form of group selection and traits with the five characteristics in terms of a process I call “cultural sexual selection.”

Keywords: Evolutionary Psychology; Psychology of Art; Evolutionary Explanations of Altruism; Sexual Selection; Group Selection; Cultural Evolution

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1080/09515080600806575

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