Kenneth asked:

Does there exist a philosophical term for a general “Hate/ disgust for the contemporary society/ modern world”.  I think it’s becoming quite widespread. I would myself like to suggest: Pan-misanthropy.

Answer by Craig Skinner

You clearly dont have in mind, say,  the desperation of ordinary people in contemporary Syria, or those starving to death in poor countries.  Rather, an attitude of people in stable societies who can count on a roof over their heads, clean water  and enough to eat.

I dont think a negative view specifically of the modern world is specially common in philosophers.

Of course, since time immemorial, the older generation has thought the world is going to the dogs, morals are getting lax, respect for elders has gone, violence is on the rise, community spirit is gone etc. This is usually coupled with a rosy view of their young day when we all helped each other and had no need to lock our doors. The word that springs to mind here is “nostalgia”. The facts are against these oldies. All research shows the world to be a safer, more healthy place now than it ever was. If the level of violence, robbery and murder in Oxford was what it was in medieval times or in a typical stone-age society, I’d be frightened to go there for a pub lunch. Never mind disease, early death, oppression and lack of civil liberty in the good old days.

Among philosophers, despair is sometimes expressed, not about the modern world, but about the perennial human condition. Bertrand Russell, reflecting on the vast, empty, purposeless universe and future extinction of the solar system revealed by science, famously said in 1903:

“Only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul’s habitation henceforth be safely built.” (‘A Free Man’s Worship’)

Despite this he went on to live a very long enjoyable, productive and interesting life.

Another famously pessimistic philosopher who enjoyed a long and comfortable life was Schopenhauer.

And then we have the existentialists expressing “angst” and “ennui” about the human condition, usually while drinking coffee in upmarket cafes or debating in nicely-furnished drawing rooms.

Existentialist joke:

Scene: family car en route to holiday destination.

Small boy: Dad, Dad! I feel ennui.

Father: Well, I’m not stopping. You should have reconciled yourself to the absurdity of life before we got into the car.

Dont trust philosophers bearing despair. Dont join the panmisanthropists, as you term them. If you feel it coming on, think again. You can make a difference.

 

Joseph Kirby asked:

How can evolution explain that birds with such amazing colorful feathers were developed?

Answer by Craig Skinner

Traits evolve in a breeding population if they are adaptive. A heritable trait, randomly arising in an individual, will spread if it improves the chances of the individual surviving or reproducing. In short, natural selection of favorable variations.

But how can bright plumage be favorable? At first sight it seems maladaptive, making the bird easier for predators to spot.

The answer, in general, is that female birds find bright plumage attractive so that bright males have a reproductive advantage and leave more offspring.

This is an example of sexual selection (described in detail by Darwin) where traits arise in one sex (usually males) which are either attractive to females (as with bright bird plumage) or help males to compete for females (as with antlers in deer).

Sometimes, there are other explanations for bright plumage. Field work has shown that some birds benefit, not because of female preference, but because the plumage signals to competitors that a territory is occupied. And in yet other cases, the chemistry that makes the plumage bright makes the flesh taste bad, and predators learn to avoid these birds and concentrate on drabber birds.

Finally, bird eyes have four types of cone as compared with three in humans. Hence birds have much fuller colour vision than us. In particular they can see in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum which is invisible to us, so that birds whose plumage looks dull grey or brown to us may be seen by other birds in gorgeous colours that we cant even imagine.

This is an active research field and there is much more to be said about bird plumage both in males and in females. But explanation is on standard, modern evolutionary lines (natural and sexual selection, genetics and epigenetics).