Anthology of Ideas

Abstract

In non-human mammals, the family group is a heterologic system. Only three percent of mammalian species are monogamous with their mates and have both parents involved in the raising of the young. Humans rank in this three percent. Humans require both parents to ensure the survival of the young and humans, across all cultures, form pair bonds. This leads to a family group far removed from the groups of other mammals. The creation of the human family rests on three foundations: (1) the cultural phenomenon of the human family group evolved because of the instinct to protect ones genes; (2) the basis of the family group, the pair bond, is the result of the female desire to have an economically supportive mate during the developmental years of her offspring’s lives; it is also a result of the males desire to have a suitable mate for multiple children and ensure all offspring are genetically his, and (3) the extended family group is a result of the desire to pass on ones genes through any means available even if it means helping blood relatives to reproduce [kin selection], the extended family is also preferable because social and instinctual taboos prevent mating with blood relatives, thus further protecting the pair bond. The result of these instincts for modern humans is the cultural family unit, the provision of resources for offspring, and to pass on genes.

I. Introduction and Definitions

Is the human propensity for violence caused by culture or our very instincts? More specifically, does “modern” cultural constructs such as video games cause aggression? The second question is easy to answer, but the first is much harder because the argument of “nature versus nurture” has existed before Darwin and is no closer to being resolved today. Their are three major sides to the debate: the first (represented here by Robert W. Sussman) claims that culture is to blame, the second (Wrangham and Peterson) argues that instinct is solely responsible, and the third (Morrell) claims that humans are subject to their genetic makeup AKA the killer ape ancestor theory; however, all sides assume much. For example, arguing that cultures the basis of human aggression assumes that human instincts and genetic predispositions are not able to influence culture, and blaming instinct for aggression assumes that modern culture has no effect on human behavior, and the genetics argument assumes that there is a gene for aggression — which as of yet none has been found.