Darwin struggled with the evolution of tears: what evolutionary advantage could come of secreting water from the eyes? I thought about this, and suggest the following answer.
Tears are both an expression of sorrow/grief—and also a grand visual display of grief—meant to be viewed by others. Think about what happens when you see someone crying: there is an immediate response from the gut; we feel great sympathy, and if we were angry before, our anger dissipates.
I think this explains why the display of tears evolved: to show resignation and submission to an opponent; to relieve tension between warring individuals—and therefore enhance the weaker one's chance of survival.
Good point. Tears in laughter too have something to do with a display to others—as both tears in sorrow and tears in laughter bring immediate responses from viewers. Perhaps tears help visually reinforce each of these strong emotions.
I doubt very much if 'tears of laughter' have much adaptive significance at all. Read the 'spandrels' work of Gould and Lewontin with regards to the atomization of the body and the adaptationist programme.
__________________ "There is evidence for evolution, gobs and gobs of it. It is not just speculation or a faith choice or an assumption or a religion. It is a productive framework for lots of biological research, and it has amazing explanatory power. There is no conspiracy to hide the truth about the failure of evolution. There has really been no failure of evolution as a scientific theory. It works, and it works well." -- creation scientist Dr. Todd Wood
I don't always feel sympathy when I see others cry. Sometimes I think its pathetic what they cry about. I might even laugh in their face if I do think its pathetic. So I don't think this applies to everybody. Why did we start crying because we're hurt but the tears come after the cause leaves?
I thought the primary reason for tears was in keeping the eye clean & removing debre from the eyes.
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Spoiler for Some Good Rules for Christians:
Luke 10:27 (Love God Above All, And Your Neighbor as yourself) And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
Matthew 7:12 (Do unto others)
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
Matthew 5:43-48 (Pray for those that persecute you)
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Luke 6:27-29 (Love your enemies.)
But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also.
Originally Posted by Saint Augustine
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If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason? Reckless and incompetent expounders of holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books.
Isaiah 8:12-13 (NIV) "Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread."
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Tears are used to cleanse the eye, containing Lysozyme they are effective at killing a large portion of bacteria. However, most pathogenic bacteria have evolved resistance to lysozyme, which is why Florey's work on penicillin bacame such big news in the 1940's.
My idea with regards to tears is quite simple, and is infant-driven but requires tear formation to have already evolved - note I am not discussing how an organism developed the tear secretion system, that is for another thread I thnk.
A young child cries and sheds tears, the mother really needs to comfort the child to reduce the risk of predation. A sequencial driving force ensues, the elders need to reduce a child's cries quickly and reduce the chances of attracting predators.
In short, any population that can quickly recognise a crying child as needing comfort is bestowed an instant (but small) evolutionary advantage.
__________________ "We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further." - Professor Richard Dawkins.
"It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand." - Mark Twain
"The inspiration of the bible depends on the ignorance of the person who reads it." - Robert G. Ingersoll
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