"What would happen at a fictional dinner with the likes of Charles Darwin, Adam Smith, David Hume, and Friedrich Nietzsche debating and revising their views in the light of today's science?  Hard to say, perhaps, but one might well imagine that it would be great fun to listen in. Forget fiction. Pick up Evolutionary Origins of Morality and find out how moral psychology is being picked apart by evolutionists. The concise essays and critical exchanges are great fun -- and a feast for the mind" Marc Hauser

PRIMATE EVOLUTIONARY CONTINUITIES VS. HUMAN UNIQUENESS

To what extent is human morality the outcome of a continuous development from motives, emotions and social behaviors present in nonhuman animals? In collaboration with coauthor Jessica Flack, leading primatologist Frans de Waal (Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape; Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals; Peacemaking Among Primates; Chimpanzee Politics) interprets the evidence for 'Darwinian Building Blocks of Morality in Monkeys and Apes'.  Some primatologists, among them Hans Kummer (In Quest of the Sacred Baboon), and others, including Harvard psychologist Jerome Kagan (Three Seductive Ideas; Galen's Prophecy), question these interpretations.  Other discussants suggest experiments and perspectives to advance the project.

HOW, WHEN AND WHY DID THE UNIQUE ASPECTS OF HUMAN MORALITY ARISE?

Christopher Boehm, an anthropologist whose field research has ranged from Jane Goodall's camp at Gombe to Balkan feuds (Hierarchy in the Forest, Harvard, 1999; Blood Revenge, 1984) synthesizes social science and biological evidence in his hypothesis of how our hominid ancestors became at once moral and human by establishing purposeful social control over individual behavior.  Anthropologist Bruce Knauft (South Coast New Guinea Cultures; From Primitive to Postcolonial...) and sociologist Donald Black (The Social Structure of Right and Wrong) contribute high points to the discussion.

ARE WE REALLY ALTRUISTS?

Can an evolutionary understanding of human nature allow or predict sacrifices for others or actions aimed at another's good?  Philosopher Elliott Sober and evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson summarize their controversial book, Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior (Harvard, 1998), which argues for the evolution of both behavior having altruistic effects and of altruistic motives, using and defending Wilson's group selection approach, a focus of current debate on human evolution. Thirteen commentators from a broad range of biological, behavioral and social sciences, and philosophy, discuss the merits of their views.

CAN FAIRNESS EVOLVE?

How can fairness to others at one's own expense evolve or survive in competition with selfish strategies?  Brian Skyrms (Evolution of the Social Contract, Cambridge, 1996) argues that game theory based on adaptive dynamics must join the social scientist's use of rational choice and classical game theory if fairness and other observed features of human behavior are to be explained.  Experimental economists and computational modelers contribute their perpectives and results to the discussion, as does evolutionary psychologist Dennis Krebs.
 

Contents

Editor's Introduction   Full Text

Leonard D. Katz, Toward Good and Evil: Evolutionary Approaches to Aspects of Human Morality

Section 1. Primate Evolutionary Continuities versus Human Uniqueness

Principal paper

Jessica C. Flack and Frans B.M. de Waal, 'Any Animal Whatever': Darwinian Building Blocks of Morality in Monkeys and Apes

Commentary discussion of principal paper

I.S. Bernstein, The Law Of Parsimony Prevails: Missing Premises Allow Any Conclusion
Josep Call, Intending and Perceiving: Two Forgotten Components of Social Norms
Margaret Gruter and Monika Gruter Morhenn, Building Blocks of Legal Behaviour: The Evolution of Law
Sandra Güth and Werner Güth, Morality Based on Cognition in Primates
Jerome Kagan, Human Morality Is Distinctive
Hans Kummer, Ways Beyond Appearances
Jim Moore, Morality and the Elephant: Prosocial Behaviour, Normativity, and Fluctuating Allegiances
Peter Railton, Darwinian Building Blocks
B. Thierry, Building Elements of Morality Are Not Elements of Morality
John Troyer, Human and Other Natures

Response to commentary discussion

Jessica C. Flack and Frans B.M. de Waal, Being Nice Is Not a Building Block of Morality
 

Section 2. How, When and Why Did the Unique Aspects of Human Morality Arise?

Principal paper

Christopher Boehm, Conflict and the Evolution of Social Control

Commentary discussion of principal paper

Christoph Antweiler, Morality as Adaptive Problem-Solving for Conflicts of Power
I.S. Bernstein, Logic and Human Morality: An Attractive if Untestable Scenario
Donald Black, On the Origin of Morality
Alan Carling, Boehm's Golden Age: Equality and Consciousness in Early Human Society
Robert Knox Dentan, Puzzling Questions, Not Beyond All Conjecture:  Boehm's 'Evolutionary Origins Of Morality'
Peter M. Gardner, Which Culture Traits Are Primitive?
Bruce M. Knauft, Symbols, Sex and Sociality In the Evolution of Human Morality
Dennis Krebs, As Moral As We Need To Be
B. Thierry, Group Sanctions Without Social Norms?
Lionel Tiger, The Internal Triangle

Response to commentary discussion

Christopher Boehm, The Origin of Morality as Social Control
 

Section 3. Are We Really Altruists?

Principal paper

Elliott Sober and David Sloan Wilson, Summary of Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior

Commentary discussion of principal paper

C. Daniel Batson, Unto Others: A Service . . . and a Disservice
Christopher Boehm, Group Selection in the Upper Palaeolithic
Herbert Gintis, Group Selection and Human Prosociality
Gilbert Harman, Can Evolutionary Theory Provide Evidence Against Psychological Hedonism?
K.N. Laland, F.J. Odling-Smee and Marcus W. Feldman, Group Selection: A Niche Construction Perspective
Iver Mysterud, Group Selection, Morality, and Environmental Problems
Randolph M. Nesse, How Selfish Genes Shape Moral Passions
Leonard Nunney, Altruism, Benevolence and Culture
Alex Rosenberg, The Problem of Enforcement: Is There an Alternative to Leviathan?
William A. Rottschaefer, It's Been a Pleasure, But That's Not Why I Did It: Are Sober and Wilson Too Generous Toward Their Selfish Brethren?
Lori Stevens, Experimental Studies of Group Selection: A Genetical Perspective
Ian Vine, Selfish, Altruistic, or Groupish? Natural Selection and Human Moralities
Amotz Zahavi, Altruism: The Unrecognized Selfish Traits

Response to commentary discussion

Elliott Sober and David Sloan Wilson, Morality and Unto Others
 

Section 4. Can Fairness Evolve?

Principal paper

Brian Skyrms, Game Theory, Rationality and Evolution of the Social Contract

Commentary discussion of principal paper

Gary E. Bolton, Motivation and the Games People Play
Jeffrey P. Carpenter, Blurring the Line Between Rationality and Evolution
Justin D'Arms, When Evolutionary Game Theory Explains Morality, What Does It Explain?
Herbert Gintis, Classical versus Evolutionary Game Theory
Sandra Güth and Werner Güth, Rational Deliberation versus Behavioural Adaptation: Theoretical Perspectives and Experimental Evidence
William Harms, The Evolution of Cooperation in Hostile Environments
Dennis Krebs, Evolutionary Games and Morality
Gary Mar, Evolutionary Game Theory, Morality and Darwinism
Randolph M. Nesse, Strategic Subjective Commitment
Christopher D. Proulx, Distributive Justice and the Nash Bargaining Solution

Response to commentary discussion

Brian Skyrms, Adaptive Dynamic Models and the Social Contract

Index