"The Cock of Lordly Plume": Sexual Selection and The Egoist

1995 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Smith
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Moral Sense ◽  
Evolutionary Development ◽  
Woman Question ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Descent Of Man

Despite a long-standing acknowledgment of the evolutionary chracter of George Meredith's poetry and fiction, and a more recent delineation of the specifically Darwinian elements of The Egoist (1879), the relationship between that novel and Darwin's The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871) has been overlooked. Both works focus on the evolutionary development of the human moral sense and on the process of courtship between the sexes, but Meredith's novel links these issues while Darwin's book keeps them separate. Through his characterization of Sir Willoughby Patterne, Meredith shows that "civilized" egoism is a sign of moral reversion most likely to occur during courtship, and he critiques Darwin's discussion of sexual selection in humans, exposing its inconsistencies and in particular challenging its portrayal of female choice. While modern feminist critics have rightly identified problems with the novel and the theory of comedy that governs it, Meredith's attack on Darwin's culturally powerful view of the sexes endorses a postion on "the woman question" close to John Stuart Mill's, and the novel's problems are best seen as part of this attack rather than as naive self-contradictions of Meredith's feminism.

scholarly journals O fausto de Helena no convento de Manoel de Oliveira

2010 ◽  
Vol 30 (43) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Maria Cecília De Miranda Nogueira Coelho
Keyword(s):  
Interesting Case ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Greek Literature ◽  
Helen Of Troy ◽  
The Relationship

<p>O objetivo do artigo é analisar alguns aspectos da  caracterização da personagem Hélène, no filme <em>O Convento </em>(1995), de Manoel de Oliveira, comparando-a a personagem  Précieuse, no livro <em>As terras do risco </em>(1994), de Agustina  Bessa-Luís. Embora o filme tenha sido lançado em 1995,  ele não é uma adaptação do livro. Este é um caso  interessante na relação entre literatura e cinema. O  argumento do romance originou o filme, mas são obras  independentes. Em ambos, porém, busco mostrar como  as protagonistas foram construídas a partir de referências  às personagens de Helena de Tróia tanto de obras da  literatura grega clássica como do <em>Fausto</em>, de Goethe.</p> <p>The aim of this article is to analyse some aspects of the  characterization of the figure of Hélène in the film The  Convent (1995), by Manoel de Oliveira, comparing her to  the character Précieuse from the novel <em>As terras do risco </em>(<em>Dangerous Lands</em>, 1994) by Agustina Bessa-Luís. While  the film was released in 1995, it is not an adaptation of  the book, and this is an interesting case in the relationship  between literature and cinema. The story of the novel  formed the basis for the film, but they are independent  works. In both, however, I seek to show how the  protagonists were constructed from references to the  character Helen of Troy, drawing as much from works of  classical Greek literature as from Goethe’s <em>Faust</em>.</p>

scholarly journals Charles Darwin, sexual selection and the evolution of other-regarding ethics

BJHS Themes ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Piers J. Hale
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Woman Question ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Acquired Characters ◽  
Other Regarding ◽  
Descent Of Man ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Although many read Charles Darwin's Origin of Species as an endorsement, rather than merely a description, of individualism and competition, in Descent of Man (1871) Darwin intended to show that natural selection could account for the most noble aspects of human morality and conscience. He did so in response to Alfred Russel Wallace's 1869 statement to the contrary. In doing so, Darwin appealed to the natural selection of groups rather than individuals, and to the maternal, parental and filial instincts, as the origin of truly other-regarding moral sentiments. Further, the inheritance of acquired characters and sexual selection had important implications for Darwin's understanding of how other-regarding ethics might prevail in an evolutionary framework that seemed to reward self-interest. In a short addendum to this essay I highlight just three of a number of Darwin's contemporaries who were impressed by this aspect of his work: the science popularizer Arabella Buckley, the Scottish Presbyterian scholar Henry Drummond and the anarchist geographer and naturalist Peter Kropotkin. In closing, I point to an extensive network of others who framed their concerns about both the ‘labour question’ and the ‘woman question’ in evolutionary terms, as a fruitful area for future research in this direction.

scholarly journals Evolutionary antagonisms and the progress of three categories of traits

BJHS Themes ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Nasser Zakariya
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Intellectual Development ◽  
Thomas Henry Huxley ◽  
Alfred Russel Wallace ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Descent Of Man ◽  
Ethical Systems

Abstract Darwin in The Descent of Man deliberates over the question of progress in relation to three categories of traits – aesthetic, moral and intellectual – attending to their interplay. The later formulations of Thomas Henry Huxley and Alfred Russel Wallace shift and reframe the terms for weighing together progress and the relationship across these traits, downplaying the role of aesthetic assessments. Huxley and Wallace invoke ‘antagonisms’ countering, respectively, ‘ethical progress’ and ‘cosmic process’, ‘humanity – the essentially human emotion’ and ‘physical and even intellectual race-improvement’. Thereafter, evolutionary antagonisms reappear – whether to endorse, dismiss or overcome them – and they remain relevant in evolutionary arguments, whether made explicit or left implicit. Following a thread of ongoing appeals to this interplay of traits and corresponding antagonisms invoking Huxley's 1893 lecture ‘Evolution and ethics’, implicit differences appear in the treatment of aesthetic, moral and intellectual development. These treatments maintain the progress that their own ethical systems represented, even while granting moral variation and conceding independent/alternative notions of the beautiful. They generally took as granted the uniformity of intellectual judgements, where evolutionary progress was both ethical and intellectual/scientific, even when speculating on the development of different types of mind. As characteristic of future-oriented visions of progress by the first decades of the twentieth century, sexual selection was subsumed under natural selection.

scholarly journals Future and immortality in the religious philosophy of F.M. Dostoyevsky (from the novel «Crime And Punishment»)

2020 ◽  
pp. 137-149
Author(s):  
Li Tianyun
Keyword(s):  
Religious Faith ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Main Character ◽  
Religious Philosophy ◽  
Crime And Punishment ◽  
Fundamental Point ◽  
Unusual Combination ◽  
The Relationship

This article attempts to establish the relationship between the concept of immortality and the future of mankind and the religious faith of the characters of F.M. Dostoevsky's works. This problem is considered with reference to the example of a detailed analysis of the views of the main character of Dostoevsky’s novel «Crime and Punishment» (Rodion Raskolnikov). The characterization of the hero is given in terms of his religiosity. The features of Raskolnikov's worldview are noted; they consist in a combination of faith in God and lack of faith in immortality. It is suggested that the source of such an unusual combination of religious ideas is the historical concept of I.G. Fichte. On the basis of the comparison of the views of other heroes of the novel, the article concludes that the most fundamental point is their idea of immortality as a continuation of the existence of a person in earthly reality. It demonstrates that this point of view corresponds to the religious faith of Dostoevsky himself.

scholarly journals THE POLITICS OF LOVE: Sexual Selection Theory and the Role of the Female

1991 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Penny Young
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Selection Hypothesis ◽  
Present Discussion ◽  
Selection Theory ◽  
Sexual Selection Theory ◽  
Politics Of Love ◽  
Descent Of Man

Since the publication in 1871 of Darwin's The Descent of Man, sex has been deeply entrenched within the studies of the biological sciences. Over the years, much controversy has surrounded Darwin's theory of sexual selection, comprised of two components -- male/male competition for mates, and female choice of males for mates (Darwin 1871:215). For the purpose of this present discussion, the importance of the females of the species in sexual selection theory will be addressed, and the modifications and manipulations of this role in the conceptualization of the sexual selection hypothesis will be critically examined.

scholarly journals Characterization of the Lactobacillus plantarum A3 with novel fermentation properties

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fengxuan Lang ◽  
Jianzhu Wen ◽  
Zhen Wu ◽  
Daodong Pan ◽  
Xiaoqun Zeng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dairy Products ◽  
Electronic Tongue ◽  
Viscosity Coefficient ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Butanoic Acid ◽  
Milk Fermentation ◽  
Volatile Organic ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Traditional Fermentation

Abstract The use of probiotic starters in the milk fermentation could provide the dairy products with unique flavors, textures and some health benefits. In this research, L. plantarum A3 was identified as a probiotic with good fermentation characters during the texture and flavor formation of yoghurt. The hardness, consistency, viscosity, and viscosity coefficient of the yoghurt were enhanced when fermented with L. plantarum as the higher activity of β-galactosidase and lactate dehydrogenase in the mixed culture condition. The contents of amino acids and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were found accumulated in L. plantarum fermented yoghurt besides the butanoic acid, acetone. Sensory profiling evaluation with electronic tongue system proved the novel taste of L. plantarum fermented yoghurt were significant different with the former plain yoghurt. Indeed, yoghurt fermentation with L. plantarum A3 indeed has a good quality and nutrition properties compared with the traditional strains and the relationship between the traditional fermentation strains and probiotics still need further investigation to meet the nutrition requirements of varies consumers.

The Unique Structure of Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin: Why Tatyana’s Identity and the Theme of Russianness Matters

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 376-404
Author(s):  
Sang Hyun Kim
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Response ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Structural Peculiarity ◽  
Russian Novel ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Literary Figure ◽  
Eugene Onegin ◽  
The Relationship

Summary Pushkin’s novel in verse Eugene Onegin (1833) has been considered not just the work of the period of Pushkin’s best and greatest lyrical output, but the starting-point of the classic nineteenth-century Russian novel. As this article strongly insists, the novel evokes the so-called ‘Russianness,’ which reminds us of what has typically been known as Russian or the Russian soul, as well as Russian types of emotional response reflected in the literary figure. The most important question this article addresses is the idea of Russianness encoded into the heroine, Tatyana, in particular. More concretely speaking, it is our main concern to investigate Tatyana’s identity as expressed through the motif of the Russian soul and its relationship with the structural uniqueness of the novel. The purpose of the present study then is to explore the extent to which this structural peculiarity is found throughout the text as well as how this question is associated with the characterization of the heroine, Tatyana. Fundamentally, the relationship between the text’s structural peculiarity and the character’s identity, in terms of thematic composition, will be at the center of our arguments.

scholarly journals Psychoanalysis of the Characters in ScHneider’s The Beginning of Everything

HUMANIS ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 1049
Author(s):  
I Gusti Ayu Agung Diah Sri Utami ◽  
I Gst. Ayu Gede Sosiowati ◽  
I Made Sena Darmasetiyawan
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Method ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Note Taking ◽  
Is Theory ◽  
The Relationship

The title of this study is Psychoanalysis of the Characters in Schneider’s The Beginning of Everything where its aim was to find out the characterization of the characters, as well as the three major personalities concerning the Id, Ego, and Superego of the characters that are presented in the novel. The data in this study were taken from a novel entitled The Beginning of Everything written by Robyn ScHneider in 2013. The data were collected by using the documentation method supported by the note taking technique. In analyzing the data, the study applied the qualitative method and supported by the narrative descriptive technique.The theories used were two different kinds, the first one is from How to Analyze Fiction proposed by Kenney (1966), the second one is Theory of Psychoanalysis proposed by Freud (1896). The result of the study shows that the characterization of the characters could change according to the situations they are facing. The relationship between the Id, Ego, and Superego that was mentioned by Freud are applied in the novel where it has influenced every decision taken by the characters.

scholarly journals Micropyle number is associated with elevated female promiscuity in Lepidoptera

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 20160782 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graziella Iossa ◽  
Matthew J. G. Gage ◽  
Paul E. Eady
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Mating Pattern ◽  
Sperm Limitation ◽  
Female Mating ◽  
Female Promiscuity ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Unexplained Variation

In the majority of insects, sperm fertilize the egg via a narrow canal through the outer chorion called the micropyle. Despite having this one primary function, there is considerable unexplained variation in the location, arrangement and number of micropyles within and between species. Here, we examined the relationship between micropyle number and female mating pattern through a comparative analysis across Lepidoptera. Three functional hypotheses could explain profound micropylar variation: (i) increasing micropyle number reduces the risk of infertility through sperm limitation in species that mate infrequently; (ii) decreasing micropyle number reduces the risk of pathological polyspermy in species that mate more frequently; and (iii) increasing micropyle number allows females to exert greater control over fertilization within the context of post-copulatory sexual selection, which will be more intense in promiscuous species. Micropyle number was positively related to the degree of female promiscuity as measured by spermatophore count, regardless of phylogenetic signal, supporting the hypothesis that micropyle number is shaped by post-copulatory sexual selection. We discuss this finding in the context of cryptic female choice, sperm limitation and physiological polyspermy.

Skeletal elements of crinoid echinoderms: High-resolution structural and microanalytical results

1983 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 194-195
Author(s):  
D. F. Blake ◽  
L. F. Allard ◽  
D. R. Peacor
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Marine Invertebrates ◽  
Sea Urchins ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Sea Stars ◽  
High Resolution Tem ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into

Echinodermata is a phylum of marine invertebrates which has been extant since Cambrian time (c.a. 500 m.y. before the present). Modern examples of echinoderms include sea urchins, sea stars, and sea lilies (crinoids). The endoskeletons of echinoderms are composed of plates or ossicles (Fig. 1) which are with few exceptions, porous, single crystals of high-magnesian calcite. Despite their single crystal nature, fracture surfaces do not exhibit the near-perfect {10.4} cleavage characteristic of inorganic calcite. This paradoxical mix of biogenic and inorganic features has prompted much recent work on echinoderm skeletal crystallography. Furthermore, fossil echinoderm hard parts comprise a volumetrically significant portion of some marine limestones sequences. The ultrastructural and microchemical characterization of modern skeletal material should lend insight into: 1). The nature of the biogenic processes involved, for example, the relationship of Mg heterogeneity to morphological and structural features in modern echinoderm material, and 2). The nature of the diagenetic changes undergone by their ancient, fossilized counterparts. In this study, high resolution TEM (HRTEM), high voltage TEM (HVTEM), and STEM microanalysis are used to characterize tha ultrastructural and microchemical composition of skeletal elements of the modern crinoid Neocrinus blakei.

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