Abstract
The Malthusian stress on mass death and destruction that Darwin adopted in his evolutionary theory presupposed high rates of reproduction. Thus, reproduction is central to the Darwinian vision of nature and humanity: organisms possessing traits that allow them to reproduce in greater numbers than their competitors survive and pass on those traits. Furthermore, sexual instincts and sexual selection played important roles in Darwin’s explanation of human evolution. One wonders if Freud was guided (unconsciously perhaps?) by Darwin in formulating his theory of the twin drives of libido and thanatos, that is, sex and death (aggression).1 In any case, sociobiologists and evolutionary psychologists today regularly appeal to Darwinism to make sex and reproduction the most important explanation for human behaviors. In his highly influential (but controversial) work, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, Edward O. Wilson stated, In a Darwinist sense the organism does not live for itself. Its primary function is not even to reproduce other organisms; it reproduces genes, and it serves as their temporary carrier. … the organism is only DNA’s way of making more DNA. More to the point, the hypothalamus and limbic system are engineered to perpetuate DNA.2
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