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For example: It's rare that a woman, even an independent one, would want to be with a man who is shorter than her. And should he be shorter, he needs to make up for it in other ways (aka bulk) -- although not the big beefy bulk since women are not attracted to those. The attraction would imply that part of the emotions is more than just mental. |
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Size and strength (at least to some extent) are objective values in a man. Women are physically weaker, in general, so having a strong, tall man around is handy, and gives some measure of security in a threatening situation. Girls learn this very young, and so it affects whom they are attracted to. Some women may make the mistake of over-emphasizing physical attributes when choosing a mate, but even those who do not overemphasize physical characteristics do not necessarily ignore physical characteristics. There are, of course other learned values -- perhaps not so important, but learned, nonetheless -- of having a partner who looks "appropriate" for oneself. Having one's partner ridiculed for not being tall enough is something I think many women want to avoid. All this is learned, so there's no contradiction here to the claim that man is born tabula rasa. Does tabula rasa contradict genetic likes and dislikes? Babies inherently like sugar and hate bitter tastes. This has been proved scientifically. I don't think they are evaluating their emotional response to sweet liquids via an objective and logical process. There are many other examples of things that humans come packaged with from birth. 3
The preference for sweet over bitter is biological and sensory/perceptual, not conceptual. It's not an issue of knowledge. Sweet, biologically, causes pleasure. Bitter, biologically, does not. "Tabula rasa" refers to conceptual knowledge, not biological facts about human sensation/perception. That which we do not learn is not knowledge. "Tabula rasa" regards ideas and knowledge. It says "Man has no innate ideas." Preference for sweet is not caused by an idea. Preference for sacrifice is. Of interest here would be preference for pretty faces versus ugly faces. I'd argue that this is also a case of how our perception is biologically wired, and therefore is not a case of knowledge or learning. Moreover, the fact that we can acquire a taste for bitter foods would seem to fall right in the intersection between "innate" and learned taste.
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