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Lower-Level Teleology in Biological Evolution: Decision Behavior and Reproductive Success in Two Species

University of Southern California, Los Angeles

A very special form of selection mechanics is explored, through which individuals belonging to species exhibiting some considerable cognitive sophistication key their behavior to outcomes that are directly germane to evolutionary micro-process (blind genetic variation-and-selective-retention), and make realistic decisions that enhance their own reproductive success. While both chimpanzees and nonliterate humans may modify their political behavior to promote individual survival, humans also meddle in evolutionary process in more sophisticated ways. They deliberately increase or suppress their own procreation, and they apply what they have learned about genetic inheritance from domesticating plants and animals to their own mate selection decisions. It is suggested that theories of co-evolution must take into account the fact that cultural selection as this acts on genetic selection sometimes is both intentional and effective, which long ago introduced an element of lower-level teleology into biological evolution.

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