Origins of Altruism and Cooperation - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Origins of Altruism and Cooperation write by Robert W. Sussman. This book was released on 2011-08-02. Origins of Altruism and Cooperation available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. This book is about the evolution and nature of cooperation and altruism in social-living animals, focusing especially on non-human primates and on humans. Although cooperation and altruism are often thought of as ways to attenuate competition and aggression within groups, or are related to the action of “selfish genes”, there is increasing evidence that these behaviors are the result of biological mechanisms that have developed through natural selection in group-living species. This evidence leads to the conclusion that cooperative and altruistic behavior are not just by-products of competition but are rather the glue that underlies the ability for primates and humans to live in groups. The anthropological, primatological, paleontological, behavioral, neurobiological, and psychological evidence provided in this book gives a more optimistic view of human nature than the more popular, conventional view of humans being naturally and basically aggressive and warlike. Although competition and aggression are recognized as an important part of the non-human primate and human behavioral repertoire, the evidence from these fields indicates that cooperation and altruism may represent the more typical, “normal”, and healthy behavioral pattern. The book is intended both for the general reader and also for students at a variety of levels (graduate and undergraduate): it aims to provide a compact, accessible, and up-to-date account of the current scholarly advances and debates in this field of study, and it is designed to be used in teaching and in discussion groups. The book derived from a conference sponsored by N.S.F., the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the Washington University Committee for Ethics and Human Values, and the Anthropedia Foundation for the study of well-being.
The Evolution of Cooperation
The Evolution of Cooperation - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Evolution of Cooperation write by Robert Axelrod. This book was released on 2009-04-29. The Evolution of Cooperation available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. A famed political scientist's classic argument for a more cooperative world We assume that, in a world ruled by natural selection, selfishness pays. So why cooperate? In The Evolution of Cooperation, political scientist Robert Axelrod seeks to answer this question. In 1980, he organized the famed Computer Prisoners Dilemma Tournament, which sought to find the optimal strategy for survival in a particular game. Over and over, the simplest strategy, a cooperative program called Tit for Tat, shut out the competition. In other words, cooperation, not unfettered competition, turns out to be our best chance for survival. A vital book for leaders and decision makers, The Evolution of Cooperation reveals how cooperative principles help us think better about everything from military strategy, to political elections, to family dynamics.
A Cooperative Species
A Cooperative Species - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook A Cooperative Species write by Samuel Bowles. This book was released on 2013-07-21. A Cooperative Species available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Why do humans, uniquely among animals, cooperate in large numbers to advance projects for the common good? Contrary to the conventional wisdom in biology and economics, this generous and civic-minded behavior is widespread and cannot be explained simply by far-sighted self-interest or a desire to help close genealogical kin. In A Cooperative Species, Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis--pioneers in the new experimental and evolutionary science of human behavior--show that the central issue is not why selfish people act generously, but instead how genetic and cultural evolution has produced a species in which substantial numbers make sacrifices to uphold ethical norms and to help even total strangers. The authors describe how, for thousands of generations, cooperation with fellow group members has been essential to survival. Groups that created institutions to protect the civic-minded from exploitation by the selfish flourished and prevailed in conflicts with less cooperative groups. Key to this process was the evolution of social emotions such as shame and guilt, and our capacity to internalize social norms so that acting ethically became a personal goal rather than simply a prudent way to avoid punishment. Using experimental, archaeological, genetic, and ethnographic data to calibrate models of the coevolution of genes and culture as well as prehistoric warfare and other forms of group competition, A Cooperative Species provides a compelling and novel account of how humans came to be moral and cooperative.
The Origins of Virtue
The Origins of Virtue - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Origins of Virtue write by Matt Ridley. This book was released on 1997-10-30. The Origins of Virtue available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Matt Ridley explores such perplexing conundrums as why, if humans are such egoistical beings, don't they behave as rational fools and forego the benefits of cooperation. He uses the findings of new research to look afresh at "Mankind".
Moral Origins
Moral Origins - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Moral Origins write by Christopher Boehm. This book was released on 2012-05-01. Moral Origins available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. A noted anthropologist explains how our sense of ethics has changed over the course of human evolution. By the author of Hierarchy of the Forest.
