I just did that, and while there are a lot of hits, I did not find anything but speculation on the matter. For example, this was the first freely available scientific paper I found on Google Scholar addressing the question. I looked at a few others but they were much the same. There are many speculations—it would be too much to call them theories—but if there is actual evidence settling the matter, or even just substantially favouring some hypotheses above others, I did not find it.
On the wider internet the firsttwo hits are junk. Seriously written, but junk. The third reports a test of the theory that homosexual men provide extra care for their relatives. It finds that in the one culture studied such an effect is present but not enough to offset the evolutionary cost of not reproducing oneself. The fourth reports another test of the kin support hypothesis, that failed to support it.
So, I have looked, and found no successful evolutionary explanation of homosexuality.
Did you have some expectation about what that Google search would find, or were you just suggesting that it would be informative one way or another on the subject?
You may already be aware of thesepapers by Andrea Camperio-Ciani. The first one made a pretty big splash a few years back.
Certainly not evolutionary psychology—just good old fashioned genetics (pedigree analysis). And not an explanation of why homosexuality evolved, but a plausible explanation of why natural selection has not ruthlessly eliminated it.
To my mind, the big problem with evolutionary psychology is that it displaces this very straightforward kind of science. It achieves success, not by finding truth, but rather by finding an appealing story. Kinda like religion.
To my mind, the big problem with evolutionary psychology is that it displaces this very straightforward kind of science.
To my mind, the big problem with evolutionary psychology is that it tries to boil everything down to advantages to DNA—and usually pays insufficient attention to the possibility that memes are what have benefitted instead.
To my mind, the big problem with evolutionary psychology is that it displaces this very straightforward kind of science. It achieves success, not by finding truth, but rather by finding an appealing story. Kinda like religion.
To put it mildy: I did not think this was a good argument.
I just did that, and while there are a lot of hits, I did not find anything but speculation on the matter. For example, this was the first freely available scientific paper I found on Google Scholar addressing the question. I looked at a few others but they were much the same. There are many speculations—it would be too much to call them theories—but if there is actual evidence settling the matter, or even just substantially favouring some hypotheses above others, I did not find it.
On the wider internet the first two hits are junk. Seriously written, but junk. The third reports a test of the theory that homosexual men provide extra care for their relatives. It finds that in the one culture studied such an effect is present but not enough to offset the evolutionary cost of not reproducing oneself. The fourth reports another test of the kin support hypothesis, that failed to support it.
So, I have looked, and found no successful evolutionary explanation of homosexuality.
Did you have some expectation about what that Google search would find, or were you just suggesting that it would be informative one way or another on the subject?
The only theory I’ve seen that makes any sense is radioactive politically.
Pathogenic Hypothesis of Homosexuality
An Evolutionary Look at Human Homosexuality
You may already be aware of these papers by Andrea Camperio-Ciani. The first one made a pretty big splash a few years back.
Certainly not evolutionary psychology—just good old fashioned genetics (pedigree analysis). And not an explanation of why homosexuality evolved, but a plausible explanation of why natural selection has not ruthlessly eliminated it.
To my mind, the big problem with evolutionary psychology is that it displaces this very straightforward kind of science. It achieves success, not by finding truth, but rather by finding an appealing story. Kinda like religion.
To my mind, the big problem with evolutionary psychology is that it tries to boil everything down to advantages to DNA—and usually pays insufficient attention to the possibility that memes are what have benefitted instead.
To put it mildy: I did not think this was a good argument.