Incest Prohibition, Origin and Evolution of

Abstract

The author retraces the long argument among anthropologists and other social scientists on the origin and ‘meaning’ of the incest taboo in human society. Writers such as Levi-Strauss, Freud, and many others have seen the incest taboo as existing to protect human beings from human nature: without it the family would indulge in sexual competition and inbreeding would lead to degeneracy. Westermarck, however, argued that people living closely together since childhood felt no erotic attraction to each other, and that the incest taboo is firmly rooted in nature, not culture. The continuing debate on the subject has since been illuminated with evidence from Israel, Taiwan, and Arab communities. This tends to confirm that Westermarck's insight was greater than originally allowed for.