Moral Origins: The Evolution of Virtue, Altruism, and ShameFrom 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. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 19 | |
THREE Of Altruism and Free Riders | 49 |
FOUR Knowing Our Immediate Predecessors | 75 |
FIVE Resurrecting Some Venerable Ancestors | 89 |
SIX A Natural Garden of Eden | 133 |
SEVEN The Positive Side of Social Selection | 179 |
EIGHT Learning Morals Across the Generations | 213 |
TEN Pleistocene Ups Downs and Crashes | 267 |
ELEVEN Testing the SelectionbyReputation Hypothesis | 293 |
TWELVE The Evolution of Morals | 315 |
EPILOGUE Humanitys Moral Future | 343 |
Acknowledgments | 361 |
| 385 | |
| 405 | |
NINE Work of the Moral Majority | 239 |
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Moral Origins: The Evolution of Virtue, Altruism, and Shame Christopher Boehm No preview available - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
Aché active aggressive Alexander alpha altruistic Ancestral Pan anthropologist apes band members basically become behavior Boehm bonobos brain bullies Bushmen capital punishment carcasses Cephu Chapter cheaters chimpanzees conflict conscience cooperation culturally modern Darwin develop deviant dominant effect egalitarian ethnographic evolution evolutionary evolved extrafamilial generosity favor feelings females fitness Frans de Waal free riders free-rider suppression gene pools genetic gossip group selection Hadza human hunter-gatherers hunters hunting hypothesis ibid important indirect reciprocity individuals instance internalization Inuit involved killed kin selection Kung large game large-game Late Pleistocene least living LPA foragers major male Mbuti meat meat-sharing moral communities moral origins moralistic nations natural selection Netsilik Nisa nonkin patterns political potential preadaptation prehistoric problem prosocial psychopaths reciprocal altruism rules sanctioning selfish sense serious shame sharing social control social selection species tendencies theory there’s tion today’s traits Utku Waal Wiessner Wilson