Genese und Geltung – Das Legitimationsdilemma der Evolutionären Ethik und ein Vorschlag zu seiner Überwindung

In dieser Arbeit wird die Position verteidigt, in der Evolutionären Ethik die Trennung zwischen Fakten und Normen einzuebnen, weil moralische Subjekte faktisch (und nicht etwa normativ) ihren moralischen Intuitionen unterliegen. Diese sind nicht-rationalen Ursprungs und gehören als neuronale Prozesse zur Natur des Menschen. Als biologische Merkmale können moralische Intuitionen nicht Gegenstand der Frage nach normativer Geltung sein

"The husband’s mother is the devil in house" - Data on the impact of the mother-in-law on stillbirth mortality in historical Krummhörn (C18-C19 Germany) and some thoughts on the evolution of postgenerative female life

-Germany

Opposite effects of maternal and paternal grandmothers on infant survival in historical Krummhörn

On the basis of church register entries from the Krummhörn region (Ostfriesland, Germany, 1720-1874) we looked at the question whether the existence or non-existence of grandmothers had an impact on the reproductive success of a family. We found that fertility (measured by intervals between births) was not influenced by grandmothers. However, maternal grandmothers tended to reduce infant mortality when the children were between six and twelve months of age. During these six months, the relative risk of dying was approximately 1.8 times higher if the maternal grandmother was dead at the time of the child’s birth compared to if she was alive. Interestingly, the existence of paternal grandmothers approximately doubled the relative risk of infant mortality during the first month of life. We interpret this as being the result of a tense relationship between mother- and daughter- in-laws. We found that Krummhörn grandmothers could be both helpful and a hindrance at the same time. Geographic proximity tended to increase the effects found. If this ambivalent impact of grandmothers on familial reproduction could be generalized beyond the Krummhörn population, the hypothesis that the evolution of the postgenerative life span could be explained by grandmotherly kin-effects would have to be stated more precisely: the costs of social stress in the male descendency would have to be subtracted from the benefits of aid and assistance in the female descendency. At any rate, the Krummhörn data do not offer a role model for grandmothers who provide unconditional assistance, an effort which in itself could have explained the evolutionary extension of the human life span.

A multilevel event history analysis of the effects of grandmothers on child mortality in a historical German population

We analyzed data from the historic population of the Krummhörn (Ostfriesland, Germany, 1720-1874) to determine the effects of grandparents in general and grandmothers in particular on child mortality. Multilevel event-history models were used to test how the survival of grandparents in general influenced the survival of the children. Random effects were included in some models in order to take the potentially influential effect of unobserved heterogeneity into account. It could be shown that while maternal grandmothers indeed improved the child’s survival, paternal grandmothers worsened it. Both grandfathers had no effect. These findings are not only in accordance with the assumptions of the "grandmother hypothesis" but also may be interpreted as hints for differential grandparental investment strategies."evil mother-in-law", child mortality, Germany, grandmother hypothesis, grandparents, infant and child mortality, kin selection, Krummhörn, life history theory, menopause, multilevel event history models

Evolutionary Aesthetics: an Introduction to Key Concepts and Current Issues

In this article we try to give a philosophically reflected introductory overview of the current theoretical developments in the field of evolutionary aesthetics. Our aim is not completeness. Rather, we try to depict some of the central assumptions and explanatory  tools frequently used in evolutionary accounts of human aesthetical preferences and address a number of currently debated, open research questions

Bilanzen des Alters: oder: Was lehren uns ostfriesische Kirchenbücher über die Evolution von Großmüttern?

'Im Laufe der menschlichen Evolution passierte etwas, bei dem Anthropologen sich uneinig sind, warum es passierte: Menschen können zweimal so alt werden wie ihre Vorfahren, die Menschenaffen. In diesem Beitrag diskutieren die Verfasser Szenarien, welche den evolutionären Anstieg der Lebensdauer zu erklären versuchen. Die Verfasser belegen diese Theorien mit Daten aus der Familienrekonstruktionsstudie aus der Region Krummhörn (Ostfriesland in Deutschland, 1720-1874) und kommen zu dem Schluss, dass zwei soziale Strategien, nämlich 'Verwandtschaftshilfe' und 'soziale Manipulation', die Evolution einer postgenerativen Lebensdauer begünstigt haben könnten. 'Verwandtschaftshilfe', die empirisch nachgewiesen werden kann durch verbesserte Überlebenswahrscheinlichkeiten von Enkelkindern, ist die adaptive Strategie von Großmüttern mutterlicherseits, während 'soziale Manipulation', die empirisch durch ansteigende Totgeburtlichkeit und frühkindliche Sterblichkeit unter Enkelkindern gezeigt werden kann, die bevorzugte Strategie von Großmüttern väterlicherseits (Schwiegermüttern) ist. Von diesem Aspekt aus betrachtet liefern die Kirchenregister Ostfrieslands wertvolle Hinweise für ein verbessertes Verständnis evolutionärer Bilanzen, einschließlich des Alters, und damit letztlich Hinweise, die bei den Rekonstruktionsversuchen der sozialen Evolution der Menschen helfen können.' (Autorenreferat)'In the course of human evolution something happened, but anthropologists are unable to agree on why it happened: Humans can become twice as old as their ape ancestors. In this paper, the author's discuss scenarios which attempt to explain the evolutionary increase in lifespan. The author's substantiate these theories with data from the family reconstitution study of the Krummhörn region (Ostfriesland, Germany, 1720-1874) and come to the conclusion that two social strategies, namely 'kin support' and 'social manipulation', could have favored the evolution of a post-generative lifespan. 'Kin support', which can be presented empirically in the improved survival probabilities of grandchildren, is the adaptive strategy of maternal grandmothers, whereas 'social manipulation', which can be presented empirically by increased stillbirth mortality and neonatal mortality amongst grandchildren, is the preferred strategy of paternal grandmothers (= mothers-in-law). Seen from this aspect, Ostfriesland church registers supply valuable indications for an improved understanding of evolutionary trade-offs, including senescence, and thus ultimately indications which can help with the attempts to reconstruct human social evolution.' (author's abstract

Older fathers' children have lower evolutionary fitness across four centuries and in four populations

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