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SUMMARY:The problems and prospects of Darwinising homosexuality - Pieter A
 driaens
DTSTART:20090216T194500Z
DTEND:20090216T210000Z
UID:TALK16292@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:David Gordon
DESCRIPTION:Ever since the rise of human sociobiology\, evolutionary socia
 l scientists have paid much attention to male homosexuality in humans. Mos
 t of this literature starts from the idea that (male) homosexuality is a D
 arwinian paradox: if there were such thing as a ‘gay gene’\, evolution
 ary theory seems to predict its removal from a species’ gene pool. To so
 lve this riddle\, evolutionary theorists have put forward both adaptationi
 st and non-adaptationist hypotheses. Although some of these hypotheses are
  more plausible than others\, the question as to why so many men are exclu
 sively homosexual remains largely unanswered. Most probably\, the major pr
 oblem with much of this work is that it starts from the typically Western 
 assumption that the straight-gay dichotomy is a natural dichotomy\, and no
 t a socially constructed one. In my talk\, I will argue that human homosex
 uality is probably too complex to be described by a single research discip
 line\, and that we need a genuinely integrative approach\, involving both 
 biological and social constructivist perspectives\, to further our underst
 anding of ‘the love that has no name’. \n\nBio: Pieter R. Adriaens is 
 a visiting scholar at the Department of History & Philosophy of Science. H
 e obtained a PhD in philosophy at the University of Leuven (Belgium)\, and
  is currently a postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation – Flander
 s. He is the editor of a special issue about the history of evolutionary p
 sychiatry (for History of Psychiatry)\, and a volume on the philosophy of 
 evolutionary psychiatry (for Oxford University Press). The other half of h
 is work is about the history and evolution of homosexuality and homophobia
 . He has written a number of papers on this topic\, defending the view tha
 t homosexuality may have evolved as a powerful means to establish\, reinfo
 rce and maintain social alliances. \n\n
LOCATION:Nihon Room\, Pembroke College
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