Charles Darwin: Sexual Selection

2020 ◽  
pp. 147-154
Author(s):  
David Wool ◽  
Naomi Paz ◽  
Leonid Friedman
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Charles Darwin

The katydid that was: the tananá, stridulation, Henry Walter Bates and Charles Darwin

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio J. Bidau
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Bush Cricket

The Amazonian bush-cricket or katydid, Thliboscelus hypericifolius (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Pseudophyllinae), called tananá by the natives was reported to have a song so beautiful that they were kept in cages for the pleasure of listening to the melodious sound. The interchange of letters between Henry Walter Bates and Charles Darwin regarding the tananá and the issue of stridulation in Orthoptera indicates how this mysterious insect, which seems to be very rare, contributed to the theory of sexual selection developed by Darwin.

RUSKIN, DARWIN, AND LOOKING BENEATH SURFACES

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-726 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katelin Krieg
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
John Ruskin ◽  
Victorian Science ◽  
The Way ◽  
Desire To Change

John Ruskin and Charles Darwinshared a desire to change the way their readers looked at both nature and art. However, when considering them together, we typically remember their failure to see eye to eye on man's place in nature. Examining Ruskin's responses to Darwin's work, sexual selection in particular, or Ruskin's late dissatisfaction with Victorian science more generally, scholars have emphasized their conflicting worldviews. Yet this tendency to focus on conceptual disagreement fails to consider a shared intellectual background between the two men: the science of geology.

scholarly journals Menstrual cycle phase alters women's sexual preferences for composers of more complex music

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1784) ◽  
pp. 20140403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin D. Charlton
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Sexual Partners ◽  
Cycle Phase ◽  
Visual Artists ◽  
Sexual Preferences ◽  
Opposite Sex ◽  
Women’S Preferences ◽  
And Control

Over 140 years ago Charles Darwin first argued that birdsong and human music, having no clear survival benefit, were obvious candidates for sexual selection. Whereas the first contention is now universally accepted, his theory that music is a product of sexual selection through mate choice has largely been neglected. Here, I provide the first, to my knowledge, empirical support for the sexual selection hypothesis of music evolution by showing that women have sexual preferences during peak conception times for men that are able to create more complex music. Two-alternative forced-choice experiments revealed that woman only preferred composers of more complex music as short-term sexual partners when conception risk was highest. No preferences were displayed when women chose which composer they would prefer as a long-term partner in a committed relationship, and control experiments failed to reveal an effect of conception risk on women's preferences for visual artists. These results suggest that women may acquire genetic benefits for offspring by selecting musicians able to create more complex music as sexual partners, and provide compelling support for Darwin's assertion ‘that musical notes and rhythm were first acquired by the male or female progenitors of mankind for the sake of charming the opposite sex’.

scholarly journals Charles Darwin, sexual selection and the evolution of other-regarding ethics

BJHS Themes ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Piers J. Hale
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Woman Question ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Acquired Characters ◽  
Other Regarding ◽  
Descent Of Man ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Although many read Charles Darwin's Origin of Species as an endorsement, rather than merely a description, of individualism and competition, in Descent of Man (1871) Darwin intended to show that natural selection could account for the most noble aspects of human morality and conscience. He did so in response to Alfred Russel Wallace's 1869 statement to the contrary. In doing so, Darwin appealed to the natural selection of groups rather than individuals, and to the maternal, parental and filial instincts, as the origin of truly other-regarding moral sentiments. Further, the inheritance of acquired characters and sexual selection had important implications for Darwin's understanding of how other-regarding ethics might prevail in an evolutionary framework that seemed to reward self-interest. In a short addendum to this essay I highlight just three of a number of Darwin's contemporaries who were impressed by this aspect of his work: the science popularizer Arabella Buckley, the Scottish Presbyterian scholar Henry Drummond and the anarchist geographer and naturalist Peter Kropotkin. In closing, I point to an extensive network of others who framed their concerns about both the ‘labour question’ and the ‘woman question’ in evolutionary terms, as a fruitful area for future research in this direction.

Human Evolution

On Purpose ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 153-165
Author(s):  
Michael Ruse
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Darwinian Evolution ◽  
Close Relatives

This chapter analyzes Darwinian evolution through selection. It explores what the Kantian/Darwinian perspective implies for humans. Charles Darwin was absolutely convinced of the fact of human evolution and as soon as he had discovered natural selection was applying it to species, to minds and powers of thought no less. However, in the Origin he was cautious, wanting first to get the main details of his theory laid out for all to see and only at the end pointing to the implications for humankind. This did not stop others from getting on the bandwagon, and although in the Descent Darwin had much to say that was both new and interesting—notably about sexual selection—by then he was entering an already well-plowed field. Naturally, the early parts of Darwin's book were concerned with making the straightforward case for human evolution, showing how it is reasonable to think—especially on the evidence of homologies—that people and the higher apes are close relatives and that humans came jointly from organisms more primitive.

Darwinism

On Purpose ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 91-113
Author(s):  
Michael Ruse
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Slow Process ◽  
End Point ◽  
Julian Huxley ◽  
The World ◽  
Hans Christian Andersen ◽  
Descent Of Man

This chapter describes how Charles Darwin changed the world after publishing On the Origin of Species in 1859 and The Descent of Man in 1871. Although there were those who continued generally to stand firm against evolution, even the religious accepted that organisms, including humans, are the end point of a long, slow process of natural development. As in the Hans Christian Andersen tale about the lad who said openly that the king has no clothes, so when Darwin said “evolution,” almost everyone said that they had known it all along! Natural selection had more mixed success. Everyone accepted it to some extent. Julian Huxley, for instance, always had some doubts about its universal power and applicability, but when it came to humans physically, he was fully convinced of its overwhelming importance. This said, the scientific community was slower in coming to full acceptance, and it was more in the popular domain that natural selection—and even more sexual selection—was a huge success. Poets, novelists, politicians, and many others also harped on and on about its importance.

Sexual Selection, Mate Choice, and Competition for Mates

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Ingo Schlupp
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Original Formulation ◽  
Survival And Reproduction ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Relationship

Well over a century ago Charles Darwin redefined biology and introduced the theory of natural selection. One of the problems he encountered was the existence of traits, mainly in males, that seemed to defy the principles of natural selection: they did not aid its bearers in survival and were often outright detrimental. Darwin solved this conundrum by introducing sexual selection. Unlike natural selection where all individuals compete with each other for survival and reproduction, in sexual selection individuals within each sex compete with each other for reproduction. In the original formulation of the principle, Darwin recognized two mechanisms for this. Males would compete with each other for access to females, and females would choose mating partners of their preference. In this opening chapter I want to introduce the topics to be covered in the book, define some basic terms that we will need to understand the subject matter, and define the questions to be asked. My aim for this book is to summarize our growing, yet still comparatively limited empirical knowledge and theory, and to provide suggestions for future research. What interests me most is the relationship between the four forms of sexual selection and their consequences.

Sexual Selection

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Udo M. Savalli
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Female Preferences ◽  
Evolutionary Changes ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Worker Castes ◽  
Descent Of Man

When Charles Darwin wrote On the Origin of Species (1859), he issued a challenge to potential critics: “If it could be proved that any part of the structure of any one species had been formed for the exclusive good of another species, it would annihilate my theory, for such could not be produced through natural selection”. Darwin went even further by identifying several traits that seemed especially problematical: the sterile worker castes of social insects and extravagant ornaments that appear to benefit potential predators more than their bearers. It is this latter problem and Darwin’s solution to it—sexual selection—that are the focus of this chapter. I begin by providing a very brief historical overview of sexual selection, focusing on the initial controversies and its resurgence in the 1970s. I then provide an overview of the conditions that lead to sexual selection and the kinds of traits that are favored by it. Sexual selection usually involves evolutionary changes in both males and females. Thus, I first address the evolution of extravagant male traits (it is typically males that exhibit such traits). Since female choice is one of the mechanisms that can lead to the evolution of extravagant male traits, I also address the evolution of female preferences. Finally, I will identify those areas of the field that are the most controversial, unresolved, and promising for future research. This review is, of necessity, brief and selective. I have tried to cite recent reviews rather than the extensive primary literature to provide an easy entry point into the literature. Readers wishing for more detailed treatment would do well by starting with Andersson’s (1994) excellent book. Darwin introduced the concept of sexual selection in On the Origin of Species (1859) and greatly elaborated the idea in The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871). Darwin defined sexual selection as depending “not on a struggle for existence, but on a struggle between males for possession of the females”.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document