The bowerbirds and the bees: Miller on art, altruism, and sexual selection
Philosophical Psychology 19 (4):507 – 526 (2006)
| Abstract | Geoffrey Miller argues that we can account for the evolution of human art and altruism via the action of sexual selection. He identifies five characteristics supposedly unique to sexual adaptations: fitness indicating cost; involvement in courtship; heritability; variability; and sexual differentiation. Miller claims that art and altruism possess these characteristics. I argue that not only does he not demonstrate that art and altruism possess these characteristics, one can also explain the origins of altruism via a form of group selection and traits with the five characteristics in terms of a process I call "cultural sexual selection.". | |||||||||
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