Cooperation and the Evolution of Human Nature |
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| Author:
| Bratman, Steven |
| ISBN: | 978-1-6678-7801-0 |
| Publication Date: | Aug 2023 |
| Publisher: | BookBaby
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| Book Format: | Paperback |
| List Price: | AUD $34.99 |
Book Description:
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How did humans come to be so different from other great apes? Recent thinking on human origins has come to focus on the emergence of advanced social cooperation as the key initial step. Synthesizing the ideas of such thinkers as Susan Hrdy, Kim Sterelny, Michael Tomasello and Christophe Boesch, this book presents a plausible and scientifically grounded analysis of the evolution of human nature. It includes experimental and observational evidence on cooperation in apes and...
More DescriptionHow did humans come to be so different from other great apes?
Recent thinking on human origins has come to focus on the emergence of advanced social cooperation as the key initial step. Synthesizing the ideas of such thinkers as Susan Hrdy, Kim Sterelny, Michael Tomasello and Christophe Boesch, this book presents a plausible and scientifically grounded analysis of the evolution of human nature. It includes experimental and observational evidence on cooperation in apes and human children. The text discusses the obstacles that tend to block or destroy cooperation, most prominently that of cheating/freeriding, and proposes three mutualistic "cooperative kernels" in human evolution that could have emerged early because they are relatively insusceptible to these problems: shared childcare, knowledge-based toolmaking and cooperative hunting and gathering. In this analysis, human language is a product of human interdependence, and it coevolved with and accelerated the vast expansion of socially transmitted information we know as cumulative culture.
The text includes four essays that apply these ideas to contemporary issues.