Les conferences de la New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute

     

The Helix Center for Interdisciplinary Investigation of NYPSI

is pleased to present  

 

Male-Male Competition: Globalization, War, and Violence

 

A discussion exploring an evolutionary perspective on globalization, war and violence.  
    

Saturday, October 27, 2012

2:30 - 4:30 pm

The Marianne & Nicholas Young Auditorium 

247 East 82nd Street, NYC

 

Little attention is paid to the fact that Charles Darwin, in his book, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, devoted twelve chapters to male-male competition, describing it as "the law of battle".  Darwin details intra-species male morphological and behavioral differences from molluscs through mammals, arriving finally and specifically at human mammals. Though this "law" is not sanctioned or obeyed by every human male, given human history, it appears an undeniable phenomenon. Buried in present-day research under the sobriquet of "sperm competition," Darwin's insight never surfaces. Maxine Sheets-Johnstone moderates the discussion and participants include Brian Ferguson, John Horgan, and James Lieberman.