Originally posted by kirksey957
Stephen, I know in the animal kingdom, sexual posturing is often dominance behavior. Perhaps rules are man's way of dominance behavior. I had a golden retreiver once and he was just completely over-sexed. Even after he was neutered h ...[text shortened]... om so I tend to think we make up our rules for no apparent reason.
…so I tend to think we make up our rules for no apparent reason.
For no reason?
Kirk, I have to disagree. I think people make up social rules and taboos for a whole host of reasons (though sometimes, when circumstances have changed, they might not remember just what they were): for protection (from “the other,” of course), social cohesion, fear, power-over, a relative sense of self-prestige (“at least I’m not_________), etc. Some of the reasons may be as deep-seated and instinctual as other animals, but
we can become
aware of the reasons if we examine ourselves—perhaps not all of them, but a lot of them I think. After all, we are able to see how some animal behaviors contribute to survival—for the individual or the species—and how sometimes how, when the environment changes, those same instinctual behaviors become counter-productive and even lead to extinctions.
Certain forms of dominance behavior may be instinctual in humans, but it also may be left over from hunter-gatherer days (yes, I know there are still hunter-gatherer societies), and are unhelpful in a larger society, for example. The “other” may be our neighbor. Also, speaking for myself, sexual “dominance” would get in the way of personal intimacy. I’m not sure how much of an issue that is when non-human animals mate. (I've done my share of "posturing" though.)
I go back to what I said: the questions of “to what purpose, for whom, and who decides” are questions that we not only can ask, but I think should ask.