Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu!news From: jpalmer@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu (John D. Palmer) Newsgroups: sci.bio Subject: Re: Are Humans Naturally Monogamous? Message-ID: <1990Dec4.185741.19118@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu> Date: 4 Dec 90 18:57:41 GMT References: <1990Dec3.183326.979@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov> <1990Dec4.055239.14558@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu> <15421@cs.utexas.edu> Sender: news@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu Distribution: na Organization: The Ohio State University (IRCC) Lines: 36 Nntp-Posting-Host: hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu In article <15421@cs.utexas.edu> turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin) writes: >In article <1990Dec4.055239.14558@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu> jpalmer@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu (John D. Palmer) writes: > >> ... I recall spending some time visiting in a sexual dependency >> clinic and the people there sure weren't happy. . . it made me >> wonder about sexuality and whether or not monogamy made one >> healthier. >> Well, I *didn't* get an answer, but it does seem that IF humans are >> 'naturally' monogamous, it would seem that these people had paid the >> price for going against their nature. . . emphasis added by me. . . >Those are very appropriate scare quotes. Whether a behavior is >the healthiest way to live, or whether it carries a psychological >price, has very little to do with whether it is natural. Such >assumptions reflect the naturalistic fallacy (good=natural) that >is so common in these discussions. To name an easy >counterexample, war is consistent with human nature. There are >grave doubts that this is the least costly, 'healthiest', or best >way to resolve the conflicts that have caused it. I look at "Thos are very appropriate scare quotes", and I get the idea that the author of > thinks that I am trying to scare people. If you read the above line, I am saying "I don't know whether anything is natural or not, but it sure does seem that an illogical extreme causes pain. . . so it MAY be 'un-natural', don't just poo-poo the argument because YOU don't like it" Now, that may not be what the author was saying. . . he may have been claiming that 'payiing a price' is a scare quote that COULD be used on the one side of the argument. . . but too many times I see an argument take MORE than is written, almost like 'I am SURE they WOUDL have written this. . .' and that is a bad scene. . . most especially because it makes these discussions drag out too long. As a general rule for ME, if I mean to say it, it's there, and if it's not there, I probably didn't mean to put it there. I imagine that this holds true for most people. Crazyman Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com