I’ve heard things before along these lines:
The female selects her mate based on how much she believes he will contribute to the gene pool and the successful survival of her progeny.
Unless I misunderstand, that sort of thing seems to be saying that animals have an instinctive desire that their gene pool survive, and I have two problems with that.
(1) I don’t think it’s necessarily true. I think that animals (including humans) are primarily hedonistic, and are not very motivated by what might happen to generations yet unborn.
and
(2) There are many organisms, including some animals, who simply lack the cognitive ability to make the kind of induction required to perceive any advantages from selective procreation.
Can someone help me, please? What have I misunderstood?