Oedipus and Westermark

• Welcome to the BOL Forum on Evolutionary Psychology by John Grohol, 3/19/97
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    • The Moral Imperative of Knowing by James Brody, 7/29/98
      
      

Oedipus -- a choral bounded march to Truth regardless of Truth's face or nature. Oedipus is usually idealized as a modern seeker for knowledge at any cost. However, there are a couple of ironies donated by evolutionary findings.

1) Familiarity appears to be a significant component in the Westermark Effect, the phenomenon of kin's not having intercourse with kin. (Which also suggests that husbands and wives may have intercourse for reasons other than lust -- but, that's another story.) Dad doesn't need to wave curved knives to inhibit his son's sexual ambitions; unfancy boredom is usually sufficient. 2) There is gossip from John Pearce that sons and mothers, separated early, are quite likely to have sexual relations when reunited, particularly if neither is aware of their partner's kinship. (This is the sort of tale that makes "sense" until I imagine how the information might have been obtained in the first place!)

Oedipus can be seen as defying fate; however, he actually defies his "nature," that of being most likely to choose mates who are similar to himself. If he and his family were not primates, the incest would not have occurred. Primates are avoiders par excellence; arrange an aversive event and rituals sprout wildly. Perhaps our weak claws and teeth and our puny speed made fear necessary for our survival. However, it also spawned an infinity of rites, talismen, and awful demonizing because we work harder than other species to keep bad things from occurring.

If Oedipus and his parents had defied fear, he would have stayed home and kept his eyesight. Likewise, all of us could defy fear and spend less on psalmists, seers, astrologers, and preachers. But then, we might not become literary heroes.

• Sons, Mothers, and Lovers by Mary Beth Coggins LSW, 8/5/98