Question for Gethard - Do you believe in monogamy? Do you think it’s natural for humans?
Do I believe in monogamy? Yes. Do I think it’s natural for humans? No.
Do these opinions butt heads? I don’t think so. We are animals. Our basic instinct is to further the continued existence of our species. We want our seed spreading. We want our eggs fertilized. We have built in biological clocks. We have built in gut reactions when we see babies. We want them to exist, we are programmed for our loins to lead us through life.
But isn’t what makes being a human being different from being any other animal that we are creatures whose logic and memory and intellect allow us to control our instincts and shape them? Isn’t that the whole reason we can live in civilized cities that aren’t constantly over-run by marauding rape bands, where food isn’t pillaged every day by grunting heathen bandits who ravage women without any thought? We are a species with the ability to know that laws, which are self-imposed restrictions that re-define the rules of our lives beyond the laws of nature, lead to more fulfillment and happiness.
