quote:
Nabokov writes:
"Natural selection," in the Darwinian sense, could not explain the miraculous coincidence of imitative aspect and imitative behavior, nor could one appeal to the theory of "the struggle for life" when a protective device was carried to a point of mimetic subtlety, exuberance, and luxury far in excess of a predator's power of appreciation. (Nabokov's Butterflies 85-86
"Natural Selection" and "the struggle for life" certainly do explain the phenomenon, and quite well at that. Seems Mr. Nabokov and others cannot fathom the power of these forces and reject them based upon their own personal emotional discomfort. This "argument from incredulity" is fallacious.
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