Does altruism exist? : culture, genes, and the welfare of others

Resource Information

The work Does altruism exist? : culture, genes, and the welfare of others represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in European University Institute. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Does altruism exist? : culture, genes, and the welfare of others

Title remainder

culture, genes, and the welfare of others

Statement of responsibility

David Sloan Wilson

Creator

• Wilson, David Sloan

Subject

• Behavior evolution
• Evolution (Biology)
• Evolution (Biology) -- Philosophy
• Evolutionary psychology
• Human evolution -- Philosophy
• Social evolution
• Altruism

Language

eng

Summary

David Sloan Wilson, one of the world's leading evolutionists, addresses a question that has puzzled philosophers, psychologists, and evolutionary biologists for centuries: Does altruism exist naturally among the Earth's creatures? The key to understanding the existence of altruism, Wilson argues, is by understanding the role it plays in the social organization of groups. Groups that function like organisms indubitably exist, and organisms evolved from groups. Evolutionists largely agree on how functionally organized groups evolve, ending decades of controversy, but the resolution casts altruism in a new light: altruism exists but shouldn't necessarily occupy center stage in our understanding of social behavior. After laying a general theoretical foundation, Wilson surveys altruism and group-level functional organization in our own species<U+0127> �in religion, in economics, and in the rest of everyday life. He shows that altruism is not categorically good and can have pathological consequences. Finally, he shows how a social theory that goes beyond altruism by focusing on group function can help to improve the human condition in a practical sense.--

Member of

• Foundational questions in science

Assigning source

Provided by Publisher

Cataloging source

YDXCP

Dewey number

576.8

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography

Series statement

Foundational questions in science