Is Lucy Stone confused when she asks “Which ‘We the People’?” Why does Monk say this question has “troubled the nation” (confused the nation)?

as university of miami psychologists debra lieberman and adam smith pointed out in a recent article in the journal current directions in psychological science, humans have social and psychological mechanisms to deter incest. with very few exceptions, marriages between brothers and sisters and between parents and their children are verboten in every human culture. the primary psychological anti-incest mechanism is the yuck response. even the idea of sex with their mom or dad, bro or sis is upsetting to most people. the psychologist jonathan haidt has found that nearly everyone is repelled by the prospect of brother-sister sex, even in hypothetical situations in which there is no chance of pregnancy).

the biological cost of incest

this raises an interesting question: just what’s so bad about incest? sure, having sex with your dad or your sister seems gross — but why? some anthropologists have argued that incest taboos are learned social conventions. this explanation, however, doesn’t make sense to me as it does not explain the widespread existence of anti-incest mechanisms in creatures ranging from cockroaches to chimpanzees. second, the incest taboo is about as close to a universal law as human moral rules get.

why should mechanisms to avoid incest be so widespread both in nature and across human societies? the answer is simple. the problem with having sex close with relatives is that there is an astonishingly high chance that your offspring will be born with a serious birth defect.

the arab empire adopted the muslim religion as their main belief. arabs would influence the people from the territories they invaded towards islam (the muslim belief).

nevertheless, throughout the history of the arab empire, rulers brought intellectual individuals from other religions to their centers of learning. these other foreigners included jews, christians, greeks, persians, and indians.   these resulted in the adoption of important knowledge developed by these cultures by the arabic empire. for example, the works of aristotle were translated from greek to arab and indian scientists brought the numerical concept of "zero" to the arabs.

nowadays, 93% of the arab population is muslim, which at the same time is subdivided in sects including the sunni, zaini, alawi, shia. the remaining 7% is composed mainly of christians.

these are the choices

local priests

european monarchs

common people

bible translators