Sex, Gender, Ethics and the Darwinian Evolution of Mankind

by Michel Veuille
Sex, Gender, Ethics and the Darwinian Evolution of Mankind
Author: Michel Veuille
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2024-06-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1040086675
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Sex, Gender, Ethics and the Darwinian Evolution of Mankind examines the impact of Darwin’s Descent of Man on contemporary biology and the humanities. Its publication in 1871 was a founding event in anthropology. Its content was primarily concerned with the development of sexual life, social life and intellectual life, not only as outcomes of evolution, but as components that have actively intermixed over time with the evolutionary mechanism of natural selection. The stamp of Darwinism on modern thought is still very important and brings novelties to academic studies. Several fields influenced by Darwinian anthropology developed in recent decades, including evolutionary ethics, the evolution of sociality and sexual communication in animal and plant species. Sociobiology and evolutionary psychology are topics that draw heavily on Darwin’s Descent of Man. The understanding of Darwin’s thought has also progressed greatly in recent decades, following the systematic study of Darwin’s correspondence and notebooks, leading to a reassessment of the development of his thought on humans, social groups and heredity, and how they come together in his theory of evolution. The book combines a historical perspective on Darwin’s achievement and his legacy. It will be of interest to students and scholars in a variety of fields, from experimental biology to the social and historical sciences.

God, Science, Sex, Gender

by Patricia Beattie Jung
God, Science, Sex, Gender
Author: Patricia Beattie Jung
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2023-12-11
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0252047273
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God, Sex, Science, Gender: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Christian Ethics is a timely, wide-ranging attempt to rescue dialogues on human sexuality, sexual diversity, and gender from insular exchanges based primarily on biblical scholarship and denominational ideology. Too often, dialogues on sexuality and gender devolve into the repetition of party lines and defensive postures, without considering the interdisciplinary body of scholarly research on this complex subject. This volume expands beyond the usual parameters, opening the discussion to scholars in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences to foster the development of Christian sexual ethics for contemporary times. Essays by prominent and emerging scholars in the fields of anthropology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, literary studies, theology, and ethics reveal how faith and reason can illuminate our understanding of human sexual and gender diversity. Focusing on the intersection of theology and science and incorporating feminist theory, God, Science, Sex, Gender is a much-needed call for Christian ethicists to map the origins and full range of human sexual experience and gender identity. Essays delve into why human sexuality and gender can be so controversial in Christian contexts, investigate the complexity of sexuality in humans and other species, and reveal the implications of diversity for Christian moral theology. Contributors are Joel Brown, James Calcagno, Francis J. Catania, Pamela L. Caughie, Robin Colburn, Robert Di Vito, Terry Grande, Frank Fennell, Anne E. Figert, Patricia Beattie Jung, Fred Kniss, John McCarthy, Jon Nilson, Stephen J. Pope, Susan A. Ross, Joan Roughgarden, and Aana Marie Vigen.

Darwin and the Making of Sexual Selection

by Evelleen Richards
Darwin and the Making of Sexual Selection
Author: Evelleen Richards
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 704
Release: 2017-04-27
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 022643690X
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Sexual selection, or the struggle for mates, was of considerable strategic importance to Darwin s theory of evolution as he first outlined it in the "Origin of Species," and later, in the "Descent of Man," it took on a much wider role. There, Darwin s exhaustive elaboration of sexual selection throughout the animal kingdom was directed to substantiating his view that human racial and sexual differences, not just physical differences but certain mental and moral differences, had evolved primarily through the action of sexual selection. It was the culmination of a lifetime of intellectual effort and commitment. Yet even though he argued its validity with a great array of critics, sexual selection went into abeyance with Darwin s death, not to be revived until late in the twentieth century, and even today it remains a controversial theory. In unfurling the history of sexual selection, Evelleen Richards brings to vivid life Darwin the man, not the myth, and the social and intellectual roots of his theory building."

Oxford Handbook of Ethics of AI

by Markus D. Dubber
Oxford Handbook of Ethics of AI
Author: Markus D. Dubber
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 1000
Release: 2020-06-30
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0190067411
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This volume tackles a quickly-evolving field of inquiry, mapping the existing discourse as part of a general attempt to place current developments in historical context; at the same time, breaking new ground in taking on novel subjects and pursuing fresh approaches. The term "A.I." is used to refer to a broad range of phenomena, from machine learning and data mining to artificial general intelligence. The recent advent of more sophisticated AI systems, which function with partial or full autonomy and are capable of tasks which require learning and 'intelligence', presents difficult ethical questions, and has drawn concerns from many quarters about individual and societal welfare, democratic decision-making, moral agency, and the prevention of harm. This work ranges from explorations of normative constraints on specific applications of machine learning algorithms today-in everyday medical practice, for instance-to reflections on the (potential) status of AI as a form of consciousness with attendant rights and duties and, more generally still, on the conceptual terms and frameworks necessarily to understand tasks requiring intelligence, whether "human" or "A.I."

Challenging Popular Myths of Sex, Gender and Biology

by Malin Ah-King
Challenging Popular Myths of Sex, Gender and Biology
Author: Malin Ah-King
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 111
Release: 2013-11-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3319019791
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This edited volume challenges popular notions of sex, gender and biology and features international, trans-disciplinary research. The book begins with an exploration of supposedly ‘natural’ sexual differences, then looks at research in evolutionary biology and examines topics such as gender stereotypes in humans. The first chapters explore important questions: What are the fundamental sex differences? How do genes and hormones influence an individual’s sex? Subsequent chapters concern topics including: sex stereotypes in the field of sexual conflict, how the focus on genes in evolutionary biology disregards other means of inheritance, and the development of Darwin's theory of sex differences. The last three chapters look at humans, discussing: an interdisciplinary approach to the evolution of sex differences in body height, biological versus social constructive perspectives on the gendering of voices and nature-culture arguments in the current political debate on paternity leave in Norway.

Feminism and Evolutionary Biology

by Patricia Gowaty
Feminism and Evolutionary Biology
Author: Patricia Gowaty
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 629
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1461559855
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Standing at the intersection of evolutionary biology and feminist theory is a large audience interested in the questions one field raises for the other. Have evolutionary biologists worked largely or strictly within a masculine paradigm, seeing males as evolving and females as merely reacting passively or carried along with the tide? Would our view of nature `red in tooth in claw' be different if women had played a larger role in the creation of evolutionary theory and through education in its transmission to younger generations? Is there any such thing as a feminist science or feminist methodology? For feminists, does any kind of biological determinism undermine their contention that gender roles purely constructed, not inherent in the human species? Does the study of animals have anything to say to those preoccupied with the evolution and behavior of humans? All these questions and many more are addressed by this book, whose contributing authors include leading scholars in both feminism and evolutionary biology. Bound to be controversial, this book is addressed to evolutionary biologists and to feminists and to the large number of people interested in women's studies.

Evolution and the Big Questions

by David N. Stamos
Evolution and the Big Questions
Author: David N. Stamos
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2011-09-23
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1444359002
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Evolution and the Big Questions “David N. Stamos’s Evolution and the Big Questions delivers what its title promises—you get to look at all of the issues, such as race and ethics and religion, that make the study of evolution so interesting, and more than just a science. The book is written in a clear and friendly manner and deserves a very wide readership.” Michael Ruse, Florida State University This provocative text considers whether evolutionary explanations can be used to clarify some of life’s biggest questions. It offers a lively, informative, and timely look at a wide variety of key issues facing all of us today—including questions of race, sex, gender, the nature of language, religion, ethics, knowledge, consciousness, and, ultimately, thc meaning of life. Some of the questions examined are: Did evolution make men and women fundamentally different? Is the concept of race merely a social construction? Is morality, including universal human rights, a mass delusion? Can religion and evolution really be harmonized? Docs evolution render life meaningless? Designed for students and anyone with an interest in the relationship between evolutionary heritage and human nature, the text takes an interdisciplinary approach and offers direction for further reading and research. Each chapter presents a main topic, together with discussion of related ideas and arguments from various perspectives. Along the way, it poses life’s biggest questions, pulling no punches, and presenting a challenge to thinkers on all levels.

The Evolution of Sexuality

by Todd K. Shackelford
The Evolution of Sexuality
Author: Todd K. Shackelford
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 294
Release: 2014-09-12
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 3319093843
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Attraction, mating, reproduction: it is a given that as a species, human beings are concerned with sex. And whether the study compares sexual behaviors of men and women or considers the proportions between nature and nurture, most roads lead back to our distant ancestors and/or our fellow animals. The Evolution of Sexuality collects stimulating new empirical findings and theoretical concepts regarding both familiar themes and emerging areas of interest. Following earlier titles in this series, an interdisciplinary panel of contributors examines topics specific to the whys of male and female sex-related behavior, here ranging from biological bases for male same-sex attraction to the seemingly elusive purpose of the female orgasm. This vantage point between biology and psychology gives readers profound insights not just into human differences and similarities, but also why they continue to matter despite our vast understanding of culture and socialization. And intriguing dispatches from the humanities review sexual themes in classic works of literature and explore the role of parent-offspring conflict in the English Revolution of the seventeenth century. Among the topics covered: Sexual conflict and evolutionary psychology: toward a unified framework. Assortative mating, caste, and class. The functional design and phylogeny of female sexuality. Is oral sex a form of mate retention behavior? Two behavioral hypotheses for the evolution or male homosexuality in humans. Sperm competition and the evolution of human sexuality. The Evolution of Sexuality will attract evolutionary scientists across a variety of disciplines. Faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and researchers interested in sexuality will find it a springboard for discussion, debate, and further study.