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From: jcollier@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au (John Donald Collier)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: The function of sex?
Keywords: Sociobiology, sex, morality, function, adaptations
Message-ID: <651@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au>
Date: 10 May 91 21:25:26 GMT
References: <635@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au> <1991May10.025511.2256@massey.ac.nz>
Organization: University of Melbourne
Lines: 35

Thanks to people who replied on this topic. A number of people pointed
out that human oestrus is concealed, and that this adaptation
enhances bonding, suggesting that a function of sex is bonding.

It was also pointed out that sex evolved as an adaptation to
facilitate gene recombination. Reproduction exists without sex,
so the peculiar function of sex (so to speak) is gene recombination,
not reproduction.

Some people suggested that the function of sex is pleasure, since this
is the immediate goal, but this fails to make the distinction between
proximate and ultimate goals.

I will not comment on the biological plausibility of the claim that
the function of sex is "to keep women in their place".

Nobody responded on the issue of why sex is thought to be essentially
connected to reproduction (more than any other adaptation). One
thought that occurred to me was that sex is (de facto) required for
reproduction, whereas other adaptations are not. This does not seem to
be sufficient to establish a necessary connection. Gasoline is necesary
to run a car, but the necessity is not essential. Nonetheless, it seems
that there should be something more to the view that sex and reproduction
have some essential relation than long standing opinion.

One correspondent suggested that the connection between sex and reproduction
was a consequence of religious views, but this leaves open the question
of why the religious views supporting the idea have become so widespread.
Indeed, if the connection is illusory, it is a widely shared myth of
considerable power. This would itself require explanation.

-- 
John Collier 				Email: Collier@HPS.unimelb.edu.au
HPS -- University of Melbourne		  jcollier@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au
Parkville, Victoria, AUSTRALIA 3052	Fax:   61+3 344 7959