© 2017
For Whose Benefit?
The Biological and Cultural Evolution of Human Cooperation
Authors: Lindenfors, Patrik
Free Preview- Describes all levels of cooperation that make up humans and our societies
- Explains how cooperation evolves
- Summarizes findings from biological and cultural evolution
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- About this book
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This book takes the reader on a journey, navigating the enigmatic aspects of cooperation; a journey that starts inside the body and continues via our thoughts to the human super-organism.
Cooperation is one of life’s fundamental principles. We are all made of parts – genes, cells, organs, neurons, but also of ideas, or ‘memes’. Our societies too are made of parts – us humans. Is all this cooperation fundamentally the same process?
From the smallest component parts of our bodies and minds to our complicated societies, everywhere cooperation is the organizing principle. Often this cooperation has emerged because the constituting parts have benefited from the interactions, but not seldom the cooperating units appear to lose on the interaction. How then to explain cooperation? How can we understand our intricate societies where we regularly provide small and large favors for people we are unrelated to, know, or even never expect to meet again? Where does the idea come from that it is right to risk one’s life for country, religion or freedom? The answers seem to reside in the two processes that have shaped humanity: biological and cultural evolution.
- Table of contents (10 chapters)
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The Human Puzzle
Pages 1-9
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Your Physical Self
Pages 11-26
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Your Psychological Self
Pages 27-35
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Easily Explicable Cooperation and Natural Selection
Pages 37-50
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Family
Pages 51-68
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
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- Download Table of contents PDF (90.5 KB)
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Bibliographic Information
- Bibliographic Information
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- Book Title
- For Whose Benefit?
- Book Subtitle
- The Biological and Cultural Evolution of Human Cooperation
- Authors
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- Patrik Lindenfors
- Copyright
- 2017
- Publisher
- Springer International Publishing
- Copyright Holder
- Springer International Publishing AG
- eBook ISBN
- 978-3-319-50874-0
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-3-319-50874-0
- Hardcover ISBN
- 978-3-319-50873-3
- Softcover ISBN
- 978-3-319-84510-4
- Edition Number
- 1
- Number of Pages
- VIII, 172
- Number of Illustrations
- 1 b/w illustrations
- Topics
