[lbo-talk] Altruism & Evolution?

Luke Weiger lweiger at umich.edu
Tue Nov 30 14:32:20 PST 2004


----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles Brown" <cbrown at michiganlegal.org>


> CB: However, I believe it is true that Darwin did not demonstrate
directly
> that any trait of any species came about through natural selection. He
> didn't prove that the tail of the giraffe evolved to swat flies. How could
> he from fossils ? He speculated that. Or he didn't have any direct proof
on
> the selection process that resulted in the eye. He speculated. So
inability
> to directly show that "altruism" came about through natural selection in
> humans is no different than the whole of Darwinism.

Exactly. And some behavioral speculations are just as well-founded as any relating directly to anatomical features like hearts and hands. No one denies this until we start talking about people.

-- Luke



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