Does Evolutionary Biology Shoot Down Hapiness?

Everything that is real has a real explanation. Humans have real emotions. Learning to partially understand how emotions really work does not change them or make them any less real.

Yes, but knowing why we have those emotions, that they are truely selfish...?

1) As you pointed out already, love of one's children increases the quality of care and the survival rate of the children. Many parents would go so far as to give their lives for their children. This is selfless, not selfish.

2) Your assumption that "selfish is bad" is without substance. It would be nearly impossible for a complex organism to evolve without doing things for its own benefit. Is it selfish to eat food because you don't want to die? Is it selfish to kill another organism to get food? Is it selfish to keep possessions such as tools? I don't care if you consider these things to be selfish or not, but it is clear that they are necessary and expected behavior of an organism.

3) Selfishness is an entirely human concept that we have created to describe certain behaviors that we as a society do not like. By creating a word for it we imply the existence of unselfishness, so if we later uncover evidence that shows that our previous written definition of selfishness applies to all behaviors, then it is clearly the definition of selfishness that is in error...because it was created in order to refer only to those behaviors which we looked down upon to begin with.

Re: Does Evolutionary Biology Shoot Down Hapiness?

Not unless you let it.

Empathy is a trait beneficial for the gene line..and it seems that happiness is an emotional response to empathy. There's a strong desire in all higher animals of selflessness that may manifest itself as emotional happiness that is strongly correlated by genetic connection...a kind of Darwinian justification of my brother and me, then my cousins and nephews, then my family, tribe, country, species.

Although that last isn't true personally as I've had dogs that were worth more and provided more happiness than some of my kin.

As for sex and female procreation, it's an unnatural act that put the self in danger simply for the possibility of preserving the gene line. Gene line sex for males, however; seems to be a "find them", "**** them", and in many cases "forget them" pleasure reward.

As for altruism and many of the higher emotions--isn't it wonderful how the Big Kahuna works--that he came up with a wonderfully stable solution with a minimum of muss.

Rap

Evolutionary biology is depressing, to me atleast. Everything that appeared real, was not so according to evolutionary biology. Do you selflessly love another human being? Apparently that's not possible. What's there left to life for, if all this means nothing? It's all but a selfish game (sorry stuh, I am blatently using "selfish").

No.

Like Woody Allen said, there are only two kinds of people: the miserable and the horrible.

So if you're only miserable, be happy: it could only be worse.

Quincy - Don't let it get you down. I went through some of the same "mental discomfort" when taking psychology classes in college and learning about why humans behave as they do. The science of it all conflicted with my religious beliefs at the time.

I eventually reconciled it all. You will do the same.

Remember it's all just theory. Scientists come up with explanations for the physical world. Maybe they are right, maybe they are partially right and maybe we'll know something completely different to be "truth" in a hundred years.

Either way, it isn't all just physical. There are emotions, choices and individual differences that aren't explained by evolution. If one of my children were to die, I wouldn't give one thought to the fact that my genes would no longer be in the pool of life.

Life is bigger than that.

I think you are confusing the force of selection with the result. They are not the same thing.

Just as our ancestors no longer exist, so too have the precursors of our emotions passed into extinction. We are free from our roots, new things, each of us a beginning, not an end.

Re: Does Evolutionary Biology Shoot Down Hapiness?

You jump awfully quickly from "selfish" to "sinister". Maybe evoltutionary biology is just telling you that selfishness is not as bad as you thought it is: Because our egos are much more inclusive and generous than theologians give us credit for, egoism is fine.

you could say feeling bad and feeling good( angry, sad, lonely etc..) are at the heart of some major philisophical ideas. good and evil come to mind, One could compare feeling good to, being good.

most people know what feeling guilty is like, right? it doesn't feel that great. one could say emotions are indicators of whether we are doing good or evil. But i have enough evidence for that as i do of god existing so dont take my word for it.

I dont quite know if I'll ever reconcile, I guess I'll have to wait and see.
So much for evolution being "just a theory" . Newtonian Mechanics is also just a theory, I don't think we'll be chucking that out any time soon. Theory is different from hypothesis, evolution is theory.
But, it all makes physical, tangible, real sense in the framework of evolutionary biology, why we do the things we do. It's seems (to me, a layman) to perfect a fit to be wrong.
Telling ourselves that we're bigger than mere genetic selfishness is also a ploy towards greater reproductive fitness, is it not? I suppose the sophisticated, thinking man might be able to escape the primal instinct, some of the time.
Why I personally view it as sinister (being selfish that is) is thus:
why are we, the individual, more important than the next? Or are we? It is simply evolution "telling" us what to da, think, act, feel. What then? Should we follow our instinct, and continue in a manner that is for our benefit only? Maybe it's because I believe in whole-hearted Utilitarianism. But who's to say Utilitarianism is what we should adhere to? I say we can not listen to our genes. Whats there to say we should follow Utilitarianism? So what's left? Nothing. There is no wrong, no right, no "moral code", no rules by which we should live, our emotions are false, what is real? What should we live for? But I would not like to live in a world of Anarchy, no law or "morally binding codes/laws/rules". So do we follow Utilitarianism, and why? It's just as un-supported as following our instinct.