(March 17, 2012 at 1:14 pm)mannaka Wrote: "If it be urged by some dreary person that these things are done to encourage reproduction, this is only putting the argument back by one notch. For why should these ornaments be attractive, sexually or otherwise."
From an evolutionary perspective it's really irrelevant whether one thinks something should be attractive. If it's selected for then, according to the theory of evolution, it is attractive, sexual, etc. If you want to argue that attractiveness is not an integral part of selection, especially in the case of perceived disadvantage to the organism, then you are arguing against the theory of evolution.
