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From: murphyc@bionette.CGRB.ORST.EDU (Chris Murphy -- )
Newsgroups: sci.bio,alt.romance,soc.men,soc.women,soc.singles
Subject: Re: Are Humans Naturally Monogamous?
Message-ID: <21856@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU>
Date: 19 Nov 90 21:50:00 GMT
References: <1990Nov15.141028.25126@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov> <1990Nov15.194025.27299@ariel.unm.edu> <1990Nov16.203058.7780@ariel.unm.edu> <1990Nov16.211050.8786@ariel.unm.edu>
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Reply-To: murphyc@bionette.CGRB.ORST.EDU.UUCP (Chris Murphy -- )
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In article <1990Nov16.211050.8786@ariel.unm.edu> eellis@leo.unm.edu (Eli) writes:
>For me, centuries of spontaneous monogamous behaviour is enough to
>convince me that SOME of us ARE naturally monogamous and that
>promiscuity, where it exists in SOME, is largely a culturally
>imposed phenomenon.

We are all naturally monogamous and we are all naturally polygamous.  The 
human animal has the genetic capability to express a wide range of behaviors
including the extremes at both ends of a continuum.  Whether a culture evolved
monogomy or polygamy is probably due to what worked under the conditions 
existing at the time the culture began evolving.  This does not mean, however,
that the alternate system would not have worked--it just means that one did.
Humans have the potential to behave in manners from the ridiculous to the
sublime.  The definition of what is ridiculous or sublime depends on you.

Chris Murphy  murphyc@bionette.cgrb.orst.edu
Dept. of Entomology
Oregon State University
Corvallis, Oregon USA