Cultural Fitness
Jun 24th, 2009 by David in Philosophy, Society
Fitness is defined in evolutionary biology as the “fit” between organism and environment, and is ostensibly about the physical body, physical health, and the organism’s ability to survive physically in the natural environment. But modern humans no longer have to adapt their bodies to survive physically in the natural environment; instead, they adapt the environment to fit them. Thus the survival and evolutionary pressures are eased, and cultural pressures take greater precedence. High heels rather than sensible footwear. Thin bellies rather than a good layer of fat to insulate against freezing temperatures. Huge biceps rather than functional strength.
It’s artificial, of course, a graft onto the natural. It could be argued that this is only an extension of what’s been done in indigenous cultures — after all, natives pierced and tattooed themselves, wore jewelry, rubbed themselves with oil, wore face and body paint, had outrageous hairstyles — just like modern humans. But they still had to answer to survival pressures. We don’t.
So here’s the dilemma. If fitness is “blending with what is,” but “what is” is not what has been or what should be, and moreover, “what is” does not practically lead somewhere useful, then what do we do? How do we find a context, a reason, a motivation for doing things with my body that does not need to be done? How, in other words, do we avoid the trap of modern fitness, which is to train for purposes that have been invented?
I don’t believe it’s possible. Read the full post