Narz
keeping it real
What is your opinion on this touchy subject?
Are human beings naturally monogamous?
- Thread starter Narz
- Start date
Aramazd
Deity
I don't think so, but I don't think that there is any reason for polygamy. Why get married if you get married to a bunch of people. The main reason I think that humans are polygamous naturally is for reproduction. More mates= More offspring
la cosa nostra
Godfather
Yes. But marriage, polygomous or otherwise, is un-natural. Everywhere else in the mammal kingdom mates are usually on a year to year basis, usually one at a time.
la cosa nostra said:
Wrong. Plenty of mammals form lifelong relationships.
sysyphus said:
I may be wrong too, but ducks aren't mammals.
As for the question, nope. Humans have evolved to be slightly polygamous. In the last few thousand years, most human cultures & societies have evolved to encourage monogamy.
cgannon64
BOB DYLAN'S ROCKIN OUT!
Doesn't all the evidence regarding pre-historical humanity point to monogamy?
Narz
keeping it real
I don't think so.cgannon64 said:
Narz
keeping it real
Plus how exactally would they be able to tell people's sexual habits from a few stone tools and old campire reminants?
Actually, it all points to polygamy. A man has a natural instinct to want to spread his genes to the next generation, the best way to do this is to have as many wives or to copulate with as many suitable female mates as possible. A woman on the other had, while she also wants to pass on here genes, doesnt want the man having offspring with other women because that would mean he would have to divide his time defending and providing for all his other offspring as well. This show why men strive to sleep with numerous women, society and civilization tells them its bad, but nature tells them its good.cgannon64 said:
cgannon64
BOB DYLAN'S ROCKIN OUT!
That isn't historical evidence, you just took a truism about man's sexual nature and made a wild inference. Just because man has a tendency to try to spread his seed does not mean we are naturally polygamists. There is a great difference between polygamy, and successive monogamy - moving from woman to woman.
Narz: Won't those campsite remnants tell us how many people were living in one place, whether they were adults or children, etc.?
All I know about pre-history is from my history textbooks, and they all spoke of the family unit as monogamous.
Narz: Won't those campsite remnants tell us how many people were living in one place, whether they were adults or children, etc.?
All I know about pre-history is from my history textbooks, and they all spoke of the family unit as monogamous.
Narz
keeping it real
Of course but it won't tell you whether Grog's kids are actually his or if Stona secretly slept with Rarger behind his back.cgannon64 said:
Ah, you can't believe everything you read lad.cgannon64 said:
(especially not in school)
Narz
keeping it real
And how exactally would your "history" textbooks know about pre-history anyway? 
nihilistic
Intergalatic Delivery Boy
cgannon64 said:
On the contrary, most if not all of the evidence points to polygamy, historically and prehistorically. Historically, almost every culture started out polygamous. This leads us to think that at least for a good amount of time before history, human societies were still polygamous. Habits change usually due to pressure only, not ideology.
On the other end, most of the primates that we relate the closest to are polygamous, leading us to conjecture that homo sapiens are probably polygamous in the beginning of our speciation too. Sure, there could be variations or multiple changes of behaviors between when we first speciated and the beginning of written records. However, at both of these endpoints we find polygamy, with almost no indication yet that behaviors may have changed sometime in between. So I'd assume that until urbanization, humans have pretty much remained polygamous.
cgannon64 said:
Yep, no evidence actually used in his post.
It'd depend just how big a site it is. I think it would be hard to gauge how many people used a campsite unless there's people there too.
Including talking about a family unit of 2 adults in pre-history times? I haven't done that much history, but I don't remember it having much to say either way. I'll have to go and look.
cgannon64
BOB DYLAN'S ROCKIN OUT!
I'm not sure what to think, as I've heard both sides being invoked without evidence.
It is safe to say, however, that our pre-historical sexual habits are absolutely irrelevant.
It is safe to say, however, that our pre-historical sexual habits are absolutely irrelevant.
Men and women look at relationships differently and have different goals for them. On top of that society demands a set of standards that help maintain order and civility. A recent study found that women will have an increased tendency to seek an alternate mate to the one they have upon ovulation.
What we have is a mix of fideity and infidelity in and out of committed relationships. Some people are very comfortable with monogamy others less so. We are what you see all around.
What we have is a mix of fideity and infidelity in and out of committed relationships. Some people are very comfortable with monogamy others less so. We are what you see all around.
