From: Oliver Sparrow 
Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996 08:20:50 +0100
Organization: Royal Institute of International Affairs

  "Phil Roberts, Jr."  writes:

>  To account for self-worth related
> emotion (i.e., needs for love, acceptance, moral integrity, 
> recognition, achievement, purpose, meaning, etc.) and emotional 
> disorder (e.g., depression, suicide, etc.) within the context 
> of an evolutionary scenario

You are, by implication, arguing that what matters in evolution is the
individual. I cannot prove this, but I suspect that mental disorders are
the consequence of two things. The first is insufficiently 'proven design', 
in that H. sapiens mental architecture is evolutionarily new, 250-700 kYear 
at maximum, and the bugs have yet to be worked out. The second is more
subtle, in that for the *species* to have the divergence of capability - and
the peak capacity - needed for a group to function, some *individuals* 
receive combinations of these sources of variance from the genetic grab 
bag which are unfortunate. For example, the group needs a few people 
with high sensitivity to others if it is to function as a group. It also needs 
a few with intense awareness of potentially threatening events in the 
outside environment. A person gifted with both of these attributes might, 
however, be forced to live under over-bright illumination, subject to 
constant, intolerable stimulus.

_________________________________________________

  Oliver Sparrow
  ohgs@chatham.demon.co.uk