Darwinian Revolution — Unit 4
SOCIOBIOLOGY AND UNITS OF SELECTION

  • Behavior and evolution
    • Simple behaviors: Tropisms and taxes; spinal reflexes
    • Complex behavior:
    • Behavior as an adaptation
    • Behavior as a form of reproductive isolation,
    • Behavior as a preadaptation to new modes of selection
  • Sociobiology and social behavior
    • Definitions
    • Advantages, disadvantages
    • Group size & spacing; territoriality
    • Parental investment and inclusive fitness
    • Altruism & its evolution:
      • (?) group selection
      • by kin selection (inclusive fitness)
      • Hamilton's rule
      • by reciprocal altruism (TIT FOR TAT, PAVLOV)
  • Evolutionarily Stable Strategies (ESS)
  • Dawkins's SELFISH GENE

  • Sex differences and sexual selection
    Anisogamy and its consequences
    Sexual orientation as an evolutionary conundrum
    Feminism and other social trends.

  • Music and poetry in a Darwinian context

  • E.O. Wilson' SOCIAL CONQUEST
    • Humans form social groups —  Why?
      • Inclusive fitness?
      • Group selection?
      • Case in point: allomothering and possible adoption
      • Homosexuality and inclusive fitness
      • "Reserve capacity" for intelligence (e.g., music, poetry)
    • Group conflict and animosity
    • Religion as "tribalism"


  • Morality, psychology, and evolutionary ethics


Syllabus
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