Origins Of Altruism And Cooperation

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Origins of Altruism and Cooperation

Author : Robert W. Sussman,C. Robert Cloninger
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 433 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2011-08-02
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781441995209

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Origins of Altruism and Cooperation by Robert W. Sussman,C. Robert Cloninger Pdf

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

Author : Robert Axelrod
Publisher : Basic Books
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2009-04-29
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780786734887

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The Evolution of Cooperation by Robert Axelrod Pdf

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.

Moral Origins

Author : Christopher Boehm
Publisher : Basic Books
Page : 432 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2012-05-01
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780465029198

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Moral Origins by Christopher Boehm Pdf

From the age of Darwin to the present day, biologists have been grappling with the origins of our moral sense. Why, if the human instinct to survive and reproduce is "selfish," do people engage in self-sacrifice, and even develop ideas like virtue and shame to justify that altruism? Many theories have been put forth, some emphasizing the role of nepotism, others emphasizing the advantages of reciprocation or group selection effects. But evolutionary anthropologist Christopher Boehm finds existing explanations lacking, and in Moral Origins, he offers an elegant new theory. Tracing the development of altruism and group social control over 6 million years, Boehm argues that our moral sense is a sophisticated defense mechanism that enables individuals to survive and thrive in groups. One of the biggest risks of group living is the possibility of being punished for our misdeeds by those around us. Bullies, thieves, free-riders, and especially psychopaths -- those who make it difficult for others to go about their lives -- are the most likely to suffer this fate. Getting by requires getting along, and this social type of selection, Boehm shows, singles out altruists for survival. This selection pressure has been unique in shaping human nature, and it bred the first stirrings of conscience in the human species. Ultimately, it led to the fully developed sense of virtue and shame that we know today.A groundbreaking exploration of the evolution of human generosity and cooperation, Moral Origins offers profound insight into humanity's moral past -- and how it might shape our moral future.

A Cooperative Species

Author : Samuel Bowles,Herbert Gintis
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 274 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2013-07-21
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780691158167

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A Cooperative Species by Samuel Bowles,Herbert Gintis Pdf

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.

SuperCooperators

Author : Martin Nowak,Roger Highfield
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 354 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2012-03-27
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781451626636

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SuperCooperators by Martin Nowak,Roger Highfield Pdf

Looks at the importance of cooperation in human beings and in nature, arguing that this social tool is as important an aspect of evolution as mutation and natural selection.

Genetic and Cultural Evolution of Cooperation

Author : Peter Hammerstein
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 516 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0262083264

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Genetic and Cultural Evolution of Cooperation by Peter Hammerstein Pdf

Table of contents

The Origins of Virtue

Author : Matt Ridley
Publisher : Penguin UK
Page : 339 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 1997-10-30
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780140244045

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The Origins of Virtue by Matt Ridley Pdf

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".

Does Altruism Exist?

Author : David Sloan Wilson
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 190 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2015-01-01
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780300189490

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Does Altruism Exist? by David Sloan Wilson Pdf

Argues that altruism is an inherent factor of group functionality and discusses how studying group function can promote positive changes to the human condition.

The Origins of Virtue

Author : Matt Ridley
Publisher : Viking Adult
Page : 312 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Psychology
ISBN : STANFORD:36105019231724

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The Origins of Virtue by Matt Ridley Pdf

"Witty and lucid and brimming with provocative conjectures" ("Wall Street Journal"), this fascinating and literate book interprets the latest research in the emerging field of evolutionary psychology to answer an age-old question: Is human nature cooperative or competitive? Vivid examples of animal andhuma n behavior, examine why humans tend generally to cooperate with each other. 13 line drawings.

The Price of Altruism: George Price and the Search for the Origins of Kindness

Author : Oren Harman
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 462 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2011-06-20
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780393339994

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The Price of Altruism: George Price and the Search for the Origins of Kindness by Oren Harman Pdf

Describes the intellectual journey of eccentric American genius George Price, who tried to answer the evolutionary riddle of why people are nice, and eventually gave away all his belongings and took his own life in a squatter's flat.

Evolution, Games, and God

Author : Martin A. Nowak,Sarah Coakley
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 398 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2013-05-07
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780674075535

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Evolution, Games, and God by Martin A. Nowak,Sarah Coakley Pdf

According to the reigning competition-driven model of evolution, selfish behaviors that maximize an organism’s reproductive potential offer a fitness advantage over self-sacrificing behaviors—rendering unselfish behavior for the sake of others a mystery that requires extra explanation. Evolution, Games, and God addresses this conundrum by exploring how cooperation, working alongside mutation and natural selection, plays a critical role in populations from microbes to human societies. Inheriting a tendency to cooperate, argue the contributors to this book, may be as beneficial as the self-preserving instincts usually thought to be decisive in evolutionary dynamics. Assembling experts in mathematical biology, history of science, psychology, philosophy, and theology, Martin Nowak and Sarah Coakley take an interdisciplinary approach to the terms “cooperation” and “altruism.” Using game theory, the authors elucidate mechanisms by which cooperation—a form of working together in which one individual benefits at the cost of another—arises through natural selection. They then examine altruism—cooperation which includes the sometimes conscious choice to act sacrificially for the collective good—as a key concept in scientific attempts to explain the origins of morality. Discoveries in cooperation go beyond the spread of genes in a population to include the spread of cultural transformations such as languages, ethics, and religious systems of meaning. The authors resist the presumption that theology and evolutionary theory are inevitably at odds. Rather, in rationally presenting a number of theological interpretations of the phenomena of cooperation and altruism, they find evolutionary explanation and theology to be strongly compatible.

The Price of Altruism

Author : Oren Solomon Harman
Publisher : Random House
Page : 466 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Altruism
ISBN : 9780099531661

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The Price of Altruism by Oren Solomon Harman Pdf

Ethics.

Altruism in Cross-Cultural Perspective

Author : Douglas A. Vakoch
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2013-05-16
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9781461469520

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Altruism in Cross-Cultural Perspective by Douglas A. Vakoch Pdf

Altruism in Cross-Cultural Perspective provides such a scholarly overview, examining the intersection of culture and such topics as evolutionary accounts of altruism and the importance of altruism in ritual and religion. ​​The past decade has seen a proliferation of research on altruism, made possible in part by significant funding from organizations such as the John Templeton Foundation. While significant research has been conducted on biological, social, and individual dimensions of altruism, there has been no attempt to provide an overview of the ways that altruistic behavior and attitudes vary across cultures. The book addresses the methodological challenges of researching altruism across cultures, as well as the ways that altruism is manifest in difficult circumstances. A particular strength of the book is its attention to multiple disciplinary approaches to understanding altruism, with contributors from fields including psychology, anthropology, sociology, biology, communication, philosophy, religious studies, gender studies, and bioethics.​

The Selfish Gene

Author : Richard Dawkins
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 372 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 1989
Category : Medical
ISBN : 0192860925

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The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins Pdf

Science need not be dull and bogged down by jargon, as Richard Dawkins proves in this entertaining look at evolution. The themes he takes up are the concepts of altruistic and selfish behaviour; the genetical definition of selfish interest; the evolution of aggressive behaviour; kinshiptheory; sex ratio theory; reciprocal altruism; deceit; and the natural selection of sex differences. 'Should be read, can be read by almost anyone. It describes with great skill a new face of the theory of evolution.' W.D. Hamilton, Science

The Altruism Equation

Author : Lee Alan Dugatkin
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 208 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2022-11-29
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780691242132

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The Altruism Equation by Lee Alan Dugatkin Pdf

In a world supposedly governed by ruthless survival of the fittest, why do we see acts of goodness in both animals and humans? This problem plagued Charles Darwin in the 1850s as he developed his theory of evolution through natural selection. Indeed, Darwin worried that the goodness he observed in nature could be the Achilles heel of his theory. Ever since then, scientists and other thinkers have engaged in a fierce debate about the origins of goodness that has dragged politics, philosophy, and religion into what remains a major question for evolutionary biology. The Altruism Equation traces the history of this debate from Darwin to the present through an extraordinary cast of characters-from the Russian prince Petr Kropotkin, who wanted to base society on altruism, to the brilliant biologist George Price, who fell into poverty and succumbed to suicide as he obsessed over the problem. In a final surprising turn, William Hamilton, the scientist who came up with the equation that reduced altruism to the cold language of natural selection, desperately hoped that his theory did not apply to humans. Hamilton's Rule, which states that relatives are worth helping in direct proportion to their blood relatedness, is as fundamental to evolutionary biology as Newton's laws of motion are to physics. But even today, decades after its formulation, Hamilton's Rule is still hotly debated among those who cannot accept that goodness can be explained by a simple mathematical formula. For the first time, Lee Alan Dugatkin brings to life the people, the issues, and the passions that have surrounded the altruism debate. Readers will be swept along by this fast-paced tale of history, biography, and scientific discovery.