problem; Conflict between specialization and adaptation; Intelligence
makes for economy in adjustment to environment; Reproduction, not
production, the chief factor in the sex problem.


From the facts briefly stated in the preceding chapters it is quite
evident that the general superiority of man over woman or _vice versa_
cannot be proven by biology. Such an idea arises from a careless and
unscientific use of language. Superiority is a term which, when used to
express the rather exact ideas of biology, is employed in a carefully
limited and specific, not in a general, sense. That is, superiority,
even if an apparently general idea like survival value is referred to,
always implies a given, understood environment where such is not
specifically mentioned. Wolves, for example, might be found to possess
superior chances for survival over foxes, beaver or partridges in a
given environment. A biologist would probably use more exact and less
ambiguous terms to express such a fact, and say that wolves were the
best _adapted_ to the given surroundings. If all these animals continued
to live side by side in the given environment, they could be compared
only as to specific details--size, strength, cunning, fleetness in
running, swimming or flying, concealment from enemies, etc. Then the
biologist would probably make his meaning perfectly clear by stating
that one is _specialized_ in one direction or another.

Especially is general superiority a vague idea when the things compared
are different but mutually necessary or complementary. If their
functions overlap to some extent (i.e., if certain acts can be performed
by either), we may say that one is better adapted to a certain activity
than the other. Thus it may be that women are generally better adapted
to caring for young children than are men, or that men are on the whole