Darwin's Lost Theory of Love

Fed up with the same old Darwinian story? Organisms, including humans, only survive if proved the fittest winners in relentless competition. Darwin's Lost Theory of Love – A Healing Vision for the New Century provides the perfect antidote. What is most surprising, and a credit to author David Loye, psychologist, systems scientist and evolutionary theorist, is the compelling case he makes for a huge body of Darwinian work that has been largely overlooked. Simply put, Darwin's The Descent of Man (1871) "completes" his life's work by adding the essential second half of his grand thesis to his earlier, biological discourse (Origin of Species, 1859). Indeed it was Darwin's "avowed" purpose to go beyond what Loye calls his prehuman or first half theory. In doing so he discussed choice (free will) and anticipated insights attributed to modern psychology and the domains of cultural evolution- even cybernetics. In short. Darwin was an astute observer of humans as well as prehumans as "The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals" further reveals. Citing 95 references to "love" and 90 to "morality" in Darwin's Descent, Loye makes the indisputable case that Darwin unequivocally held that in humans, as opposed to prehumans, "the moral sense or conscience is by far the most important" factor directing our evolution. Moreover, Darwin explicitly and "vehemently abhorred" the notion of "blind chance" so popular in neo-Darwinism. Indeed Darwin, who studied theology at university, explicitly advances "love thy neighbour as thyself" as a central human creed arising from his careful study of our "social" species. So "the social instincts- the prime principle of our moral constitution – lead over our evolution to the golden rule 'As ye would that others should do unto you, do ye to them likewise'" Thus, according to Darwin, moral behavior can not manifest through prehuman natural selection. Ironically, the sociobiologists who ignore Descent (i.e, second half Darwinism) argue the contrary, based on first half Darwinism. This is merely poor scholarship, but as Loye points out, almost everyone has separated Darwin's observations on human evolution and morality, from his classic work on prehuman evolution. With so many Darwinian scholars around, how could this be? The answer lies in the compartmentalisation of science, Most biologists are reluctant to consider morality a legitimate topic of evolutionary discussion, even in the human domain. Thus, sociobiologists, in particular, revert to bottom up (biology as destiny) explanations, either excluding human morality and destiny from the field, or bending it to fit prehuman models. Ironically, if they read Descent, as Loye has, they could appreciate the "second half" ground rules laid by Darwin for our species. Loye, incidentally, also believes that Darwin's wife Emma and daughter Henrietta obscured of some of Darwin's message by too much editing of what they perceived as delicate subject matter. If Darwin's second half message is widely and correctly assimilated, much could change in the way Darwinism is perceived and revisited by academics, teachers, theologians, sociologists and even creationists. Further reading highlights Darwin's revulsion towards slavery and mistreatment of women and his vision that no "artificial barrier" prevents "our sympathies from extending to the people of all nations and races." Loye uses Darwin's belief that "virtue will be triumphant" leading to "a still higher destiny" for our species, as the basis for his subtitle " a healing vision for the new century." I found some technical layout problems with Loye's book (no index and errors in numbering of notes), which he complicates by employing confusing typeface for lengthy quotes from different editions of Descent, as well as for his own text. Also his efforts to modernize Darwin (changing man to human etc.,) will likely upset purists. But these are minor concerns. The essential message is that we really have overlooked Darwin's Lost Theory of Love, even though it was right there for all to see. Biologists, psychologists, evolutionists and even creationists should benefit rather than suffer from a new look at Darwin's lost game plan for the second half. Allowing for unfair, first half stoppages, injuries and penalty decisions (against Darwin), interesting new results may evolve as the second half, and any overtime, plays out.