Richard Prum: Evolution and Beauty

In thirty years of fieldwork, ornithologist Richard Prum has seen quite a bit of ostentatious sexual display. To explain it all, he dusts off Darwin’s long-neglected theory of sexual selection, which posits that the act of choosing a mate for purely aesthetic reasons—for the mere pleasure of it—is an independent engine of evolutionary change. His The Evolution of Beauty is a fascinating mixture of biology, philosophy, sociology, and the rich story of human sexuality.

This program is generously underwritten by Owen Deutsch and Rona Talcott.

This program was recorded on Oct 29, 2017 as part of Fallfest/17: Belief. Learn more here: https://chicagohumanities.org/belief

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