Werner40

Biological Adaptation, Psychological
Adjustment, and Morality

The ideas I have been discussing here have been around for many years, but they have been neglected, perhaps in part because many have found them politically distasteful. I think this attitude results from misunderstandings about the relationships between biological adaptation, psychological adjustment and morality. In short, many people seem to have confused these really unrelated concepts. Gadpaille (1980:354), for example, argues that "homosexuality as a preferential or obligatory mode must by definition be biologically deviant," and implies that preferential homosexuality is pathological. Similarly, the psychoanalyst, Arango (1989), in proposing a close tie between dominance hierarchies and homosexuality, argues that homosexuality is not "love" but "masochism." But let us be clear here. Biological adaptation is not the same as "psychological adaptation" or "psychological adjustment." Biological adaptation refers to the passing on of genes. It is genes that are passed on, and that are adaptive or not. Individuals are never passed on – they always die.