He claimed that monogamy was rejected by the upper class sufficiently enough to cause divorce and single parenthood to spike
There are various types of opposition to monogamy. Outright support of polygamy is not the only one.
I can’t make up and apply new criteria like “bizarrely unconventional”,\
Yes you can. Of course, it’s not “making it up”, it’s “figuring it out”. If there are obvious explanations why he might want to use that example other than “he’s biased against leftists”, you shouldn’t jump to “he’s biased against leftists”. And “polygamy is a lot weirder” is too obvious an explanation for you to just ignore it.
nor can I just accept Henderson’s framework when I’m critiquing it.
If you’re criticizing his version and not your version, you pretty much are required to accept his framework.
My entire criticism of his luxury beliefs framework is that it is arbitrary and applied in a selective ad-hoc manner, largely for the purpose of flattering one’s pre-existing political sensibilities. The very fact that you’re adding all these previously unmentioned rule amendments reinforces my thesis exactly. If you think my criticism is off-base, it would be helpful if you pointed out exactly where it is contradicted. Something like “if your critique is correct then we should expect X, but instead we see Y” would be neat.
There are various types of opposition to monogamy. Outright support of polygamy is not the only one.
Yes you can. Of course, it’s not “making it up”, it’s “figuring it out”. If there are obvious explanations why he might want to use that example other than “he’s biased against leftists”, you shouldn’t jump to “he’s biased against leftists”. And “polygamy is a lot weirder” is too obvious an explanation for you to just ignore it.
If you’re criticizing his version and not your version, you pretty much are required to accept his framework.
My entire criticism of his luxury beliefs framework is that it is arbitrary and applied in a selective ad-hoc manner, largely for the purpose of flattering one’s pre-existing political sensibilities. The very fact that you’re adding all these previously unmentioned rule amendments reinforces my thesis exactly. If you think my criticism is off-base, it would be helpful if you pointed out exactly where it is contradicted. Something like “if your critique is correct then we should expect X, but instead we see Y” would be neat.
I don’t have to make up things after the fact to say “he probably chose the polygamy example because polygamy is weird”. It’s obvious.