Helena Cronin

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Helena Cronin (born 1942[1]) is a British Darwinian philosopher and rationalist. She is the co-director of the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science and the Darwin Centre at the London School of Economics. Cronin's important work is The Ant and the Peacock: Altruism and Sexual Selection from Darwin to Today (1991).

Life and work[]

Cronin attended Henrietta Barnett School in Hampstead Garden Suburb.

Cronin is co-editor of Darwinism Today, a series of short books in evolutionary theory.[2] She writes popular articles for newspapers such as The Guardian.[3] She is a Patron of Humanists UK.[4]

She ran a series of seminars, "effectively a salon at the London School of Economics specialising in the implications of Darwinian theory for humans" according to Times Higher Education. The seminars featured Richard Dawkins, David Haig, Daniel Dennett, Steven Pinker and Matt Ridley among others.[5]

Cronin was acknowledged in the preface to the second edition of 'The Selfish Gene' by Richard Dawkins.

Reception[]

The evolutionary zoologist Mark Ridley, reviewing The Ant and the Peacock in the New York Times, writes that it is a "fine book" in which Cronin uses our modern understanding of altruism (the ant) and "dangerously gaudy sexual ornamentation" (the peacock).[6] Ridley notes that there are two reasons for sex differences like the peacock's train, and that Cronin explains them through the debate of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. Darwin proposed female choice: female aesthetics drive male displays. Wallace both "ignored Darwin's problem" (ornamentation) and "denied Darwin's solution" (female choice rather than natural selection).[6] In Ridley's opinion, "The subtlest and most original insights in "The Ant and the Peacock" concern differences between Darwin's ideas and modern ideas." The review of The Ant and the Peacock in Biology and Philosophy was favorable."[7]

Nils K. Oeijord, in his book Why Gould was Wrong,[8] noted that Stephen Jay Gould Gould's criticism of Cronin[9] was misplaced. John Maynard Smith and Daniel Dennett defended Cronin against Gould's charges.[10]

The English evolutionary anthropologist , in A reply to Helena Cronin criticized Cronin's claim that women are disposed to wanting a single mate, noting that monogamy is rarer than biologists thought. Power was critical of Cronin's view of the lone mother, showing that grandmothers assist their daughters' offspring.[11]

Edge, in its "Annual Question" in 2008, hosted Cronin in a piece entitled More dumbbells but more Nobels: Why men are at the top[12]

Bibliography[]

  • The Ant and the Peacock: Altruism and Sexual Selection from Darwin to Today Cambridge University Press, 1991.
  • The Battle of the Sexes Revisited, in Richard Dawkins: how a scientist changed the way we think. Oxford University Press, 2006.

References[]

  1. ^ Anne Perkins (28 August 1999). "Darwin's darling". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  2. ^ "Edge.org profile". Edge Org. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  3. ^ Cronin, Helena (12 March 2005). "The vital statistics". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  4. ^ "Dr Helena Cronin". British Humanist Association. 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  5. ^ "The Darwin Impresario". Times Higher Education. 21 October 1996. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Ridley, Mark (13 September 1992). "Why It Pays to Dress Well". New York Times. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  7. ^ M. R. (1994). "Review: The Ant and the Peacock by Helena Cronin". Biology and Philosophy. 9 (2): 253–259. doi:10.1007/bf00857935.
  8. ^ Oeijord, Nils K (2003). Why Gould was Wrong. iUniverse. p. 137. ISBN 9780595301560.
  9. ^ "The Confusion Over Evolution/".
  10. ^ "Confusion Over Evolution: an Exchange/".
  11. ^ Power, Camilla. "A Reply to Helena Cronin" (PDF). Radical Anthropology Group. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  12. ^ Cronin, Helena. Edge: More dumbbells but more Nobels: Why men are at the top. Retrieved 3 May 2013.

External links[]

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