Good Natured

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In Good Natured Frans de Waal, ethologist and primatologist, asks us to reconsider human morality in light of moral aspects that can be identified in animals. Within the complex negotiations of human society, a moral action may involve thoughts and feelings of guilt, reciprocity, obligation, expectations, rules, or community concern. De Waal finds these aspects of morality prevalent in other animal societies, mostly primate, and suggests that the two philosophical camps supporting nature and nurture may have to be disbanded in order to adequately understand human morality. A theoretician, de Waal is meticulous in his research, cautious not to extrapolate too much from his findings, and logically sound in his arguments. He also writes with precision and a flair for the dramatic, carrying readers along with graceful ease and vivid examples.

Book Description

To observe a dog's guilty look.

to witness a gorilla's self-sacrifice for a wounded mate, to watch an elephant herd's communal effort on behalf of a stranded calf--to catch animals in certain acts is to wonder what moves them. Might there he a code of ethics in the animal kingdom? Must an animal be human to he humane? In this provocative book, a renowned scientist takes on those who have declared ethics uniquely human Making a compelling case for a morality grounded in biology, he shows how ethical behavior is as much a matter of evolution as any other trait, in humans and animals alike.

World famous for his brilliant descriptions of Machiavellian power plays among chimpanzees-the nastier side of animal life--Frans de Waal here contends that animals have a nice side as well. Making his case through vivid anecdotes drawn from his work with apes and monkeys and holstered by the intriguing, voluminous data from his and others' ongoing research, de Waal shows us that many of the building blocks of morality are natural: they can he observed in other animals. Through his eyes, we see how not just primates but all kinds of animals, from marine mammals to dogs, respond to social rules, help each other, share food, resolve conflict to mutual satisfaction, even develop a crude sense of justice and fairness.

Natural selection may be harsh, but it has produced highly successful species that survive through cooperation and mutual assistance. De Waal identifies this paradox as the key to an evolutionary account of morality, and demonstrates that human morality could never have developed without the foundation of fellow feeling our species shares with other animals. As his work makes clear, a morality grounded in biology leads to an entirely different conception of what it means to he human--and humane.

Customer Reviews:

Just a good book.......2007-06-10

I found the book to be highly readable and subject matter to be fascinating. This subject is no where near my field (which is history) but found that De Waal presents the material in way that is very accessible to anyone. De Waal has an entertaining writing style that keeps you absorbed in the reading without the effort I have found in other books on the subject.

It's very important for us to really look at where we come from and why we are what we are, and taking a look at our closest relatives is a good window into our minds. I found the analysis and the conclusions to be well formed and fairly presented. The evidence he gives for his conclusions is well documented and explained.

While I did have a few problems here and there, these did not detract from the overall readability and the pure enjoyment of the book. This was just a very enjoyable book that I would recommend to anyone, whether you have a deep interest in the topic or you're just looking for an interesting book to use up a few hours in the day.

Very important book, gives the good news about Darwinism.......2007-05-12

For some time now, we have been pounded with the bad news about Darwin. Life was shaped by a war of all against all. Evolution is survival of the fittest. People are incurably violent "killer apes" because Darwin made us killing machines.

This is all alot of nonsense, and always has been. It is important for a number of reasons, however. Among other things, many of the opponents of Darwin in the academic world are motivated by an understandable distaste for the "killer ape" school of thought. If Darwin says that people are no damm good, and that is built into our genes, then we reject Darwin.

But Darwin never said any of that stuff. Evolution by natural selection favors whatever promotes survival, under the conditions a species finds itself. It promotes being big and heavy, for whales in the ocean; it promotes being light and thin, for hummingbirds. It does not promote any one thing, in all circumstances.

It particularly does not promote unlimited aggressiveness, particularly among social animals. A very more useful strategy for survival is cooperation. De Waal makes the case that cooperation is built into us, by natural selection. He uses eminently Darwinian logic, and he knows the science.

Brilliant.......2006-12-07

De Waal is brilliant, objective, careful in reaching conclusions, ethical, a good writer, and has a lot to say. He is very much aware of research in related fields, such as developmental psychology. He and others place great store on observation of animals in natural settings, but also use controlled experimentation, analogous to the type of studies psychologists are always performing on college students. While I think this was an outstanding book, I would acknowledge that the beginning is slower reading than the end: more focused on the necessary vocabulary, some of the controversies, more argumentative, a little redundant.

De Waal contrasts "lower" primates and chimpanzees so that we can better understand the evolution of morality, and such distinctions as that between learned adjustment and true empathy. Chimps will mourn, console, deceive; the alpha male will intervene in disputes where the only objective can be restoration of harmony. As all animals, their adaptive potential exceeds the range of behavior observed in natural settings. For example, in the wild, females do not usually spend much time with other adult females, whereas in captivity they do. In captivity, they may use their friendships/alliances to control overly aggressive males, and even influence who becomes the alpha male. While morality has a genetic basis, even in monkeys there is a cultural component. In one experiment, aggressive rhesus adolescents learned to be more tolerant after living with more peaceful stump tailed macaques for 6 months.

The adaptive potential of morality is that it fosters group cohesion, which for many species is essential for defense against predators, or to find or protect resources. This is not to deny that one basis of morality is the selfish gene: by helping kin, you are helping some of your own genes to survive, so "altruistic genes" tend to perpetuate themselves.

Morality among Primates.......2006-09-25

Good Natured is a book focusing on morality in the animal kingdom, specifically primates. Overall, I thought this was definitely a fairy easy and engrossing read. The book deals with the structure of primate societies and how they enforce morality, how deeply it extends through the primate family (de Waal primarily researches chimpanzees), and instances of love, guilt, aggression, deception from his own research and those of other primatologists. He also describes other philosophies and research into moral systems.

I like de Waals style: the studies he talked about were fascinating and he really keeps your interest. I guess the only negative is that the book is a little disjointed in places. For example, in the chapter on sympathy there is a section on deception. In the end he makes his own speculation on morality stretching across human boundaries and what he makes of the implications for treatment of primates and other animals. It's definitely a great read for anyone interested in the evolution of morality and primatology.

Clearly outstanding.......2005-10-22

I must say that this book has really helped me understand how monkeys, bonobos, and chimps live in both captivity and in the wild. In the same token it has also help understand how they all interact with each other, and sometimes I must admit that they seem to treat each other like humans treat one another.

Chapter Two in the book to me seemed to be the most interesting. De Waal with great detail writes about relationships within the species. How they accept handicap within the species and how they deal with an offspring's death.

Overall this book is outstanding and clearly understood. All chapters of this book even though this book is about primates, monkeys, etc., have a tie to human beings. I recommend this book to those individuals interested in learning the behavior and the nature of primates, monkeys, etc., but most of all those interested in learning the behavior and nature of humans, after all we did evolve from old world primates.

Adaptation and Human Behavior: An Anthropological Perspective (Evolutionary Foundations of Human Behavior) (Evolutionary Foundations of Human Behavior)

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GREAT
Another step forward for empirical science.
Human Behavioral Ecology at its Finest

Adaptation and Human Behavior: An Anthropological Perspective (Evolutionary Foundations of Human Behavior) (Evolutionary Foundations of Human Behavior)

Manufacturer: Aldine Transaction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0202020444

Book Description

Adaptation and Human Behavior is a collection of state-of-the-art studies in the rapidly growing field of human behavioral ecology. It commemorates the birth of this approach two decades ago with the publication of Chagnon and Irons's edited volume Evolutionary Biology and Human Social Behavior: An Anthropological Perspective. At the same time it redefines human behavioral ecology for a new generation of scholars and students. Following a set of introductory chapters that put the volume in broader historical and theoretical context, eighteen chapters use data from more than twenty different human societies to explore human behavioral adaptations. A final chapter looks at how far the approach has come and where it may go. Well-known human behavioral ecologists as well as a younger generation of scholars approach topics with a degree of theoretical and methodological sophistication that demonstrate both the maturity and freshness of this new paradigm in the study of human behavior.

CONTENTS

Preface · Part I. Some Statements of Theory · 1. Two Decades of a New Paradigm, William Irons · 2. Three Styles in the Evolutionary Analysis of Human Behavior, Eric Alden Smith · Part II. Mating · 3. Polygyny, Family Structure, and Child Mortality: A Prospective Study among the Dogon of Mali, Beverly I. Strassman · 4. Paternal Investment and Hunter-Gatherer Divorce Rates, Nicholas Blurton Jones, Frank W. Marlowe, Kristen Hawkes, and James F. O'Connell · 5. Fertility, Offspring Quality, and Wealth in Datoga Pastoralists: Testing Evolutionary Models of Intersexual Selection, Daniel W. Sellen, Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, and Daniela F. Sieff · 6. Manipulating Kinship Rules: A Form of Male Yanomamö Reproductive Competition, Napoleon Chagnon · 7. Physical Attractiveness, Race, and Somatic Prejudice in Bahia, Brazil, Douglas Jones · Part III. Parenting · 8. Parental Investment Strategies among Aka Foragers, Ngandu Farmers, and Euro-American Urban Industrialists, Barry S. Hewlett, Michael E. Lamb, Birgit Leyendecker, and Axel Schölmerich · 9. Parenting Other Men's Children: Cost, Benefits, and Consequences, Jane B. Lancaster and Hillard S. Kaplan · 10. Female-Biased Parental Investment and Growth Performance among the Mukogodo, Lee Cronk · 11. The Grandmother Hypothesis and Human Evolution, Kristen Hawkes, James F. O'Connell, Nicholas Blurton Jones, H. Alvarez, and E.L. Charnov · 12. Why Do the Yomut Raise More Sons than Daughters? William Irons · Part IV. The Demographic Transition · 13. An Adaptive Model of Human Reproductive Rate Where Wealth Is Inherited: Why People Have Small Families, Ruth Mace · 14. Skills-Based Competitive Labor Markets, the Demographic Transition, and the Interaction of Fertility and Parental Human Capital in the Determination of Child Outcomes, Hillard S. Kaplan and Jane B. Lancaster · 15. Sex, Wealth, and Fertility: Old Rules, New Environments, Bobbi Low · 16. To Marry Again or Not: A Dynamic Model for Demographic Transition, Barney Luttberg, Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, and Marc Mangel · Part V. Sociality · 17. Effects of Illness and Injury on Foraging among the Yora and Shiwiar: Pathology Risk as Adaptive Problem, Lawrence Sugiyama and Richard Chacon · 18. Reciprocal Altruism in Yanomamö Food Exchange, Raymond Hames · 19. Reciprocal Altruism and Warfare: A Case from the Ecuadorian Amazon, John Q. Patton · 20. The Emergence and Stability of Cooperative Fishing on Ifaluk Atoll, Richard Sosis · Part VI. Conclusion · 21. Twenty Years of Evolutionary Biology and Human Social Behavior: Where Are We Now? J. Patrick Gray · References · Index

Customer Reviews:

GREAT.......2005-09-25

This book arrived in adequate time and was in great condition. There was no trouble with delivery, it was on time.

Another step forward for empirical science........2001-01-20

This book brings together some of the best minds to discuss what we
know about evolutionary strategies for mating, parenting, reproduction
and altruism. It consists of numerous studies showing the universality
of human behavior, and how different ecologies result in different
local behaviors, all the while conforming to our innate algorithms.
That is, how nature and nurture combine resulting in our modern
societies, and how our maladaptations with regards to rep[17~roduction
and altruism are a result of our technology changing the rules of
adapted strategies. Such things as birth control have now unlinked
male social displays of wealth and dominance that once led to
reproductive success.

But the best part of the book is the Statement
of Theories. It is a lucid history of how cultural anthropology has
all but abandoned the scientific empiricism for a politically driven
agenda of cultural determinism. That is, while these radical
environmentalists were criticizing evolutionary approaches without
coming up with alternative theories, evolutionary theorists were
charging ahead, making phenomenal progress in understanding human
nature. It explains again how detractors such as Sahlins, Gould,
Lewontin, Kamin, Rose, et al., with their condemnation of the
evolutionary perspective, without providing alternative hypotheses,
have actually accelerated the progress made in linking humans to all
other organisms in an evolutionary explanation of how we interact with
the world about us.

[17~[17~[17~

Overall, this book is must
reading, especially for anyone interested in demographics, parenting,
and reproduction rates of different population groups. Especially now
when there is a renewed interest in many countries that reproduction
rates are so low that immigration is sought to make up the difference,
with the impending problems it brings when multiculturalism replaces
homogeneous populations and cultures.

Human Behavioral Ecology at its Finest.......2000-11-09

The greatest error in social theory throughout the 20th century was the belief that humans are so different from other species that none of the tools normally used to study behavior in non-humans is applicable to the study of behavior in humans. Usually this was supported by arguing that human culture is so variable and human nature so malleable that we have virtually completely transcended our animal roots.

E. O. Wilson's great book, Sociobiology (1975) changed all that. Despite ferocious opposition to the idea that humans are animals deeply affected by their evolutionary history (Wilson was called a racist and a fascist by very eminent biologists and anthropologists), a whole generation of young researchers got the message, and began producing extremely valuable studies confirming that many aspects of human psychology and human social organization could be better appreciated by treating humans as the product of evolution, and using methods little different from the study of primates, and even birds and insects.

This book is an edited collection of some of the major research efforts undertaken by these evolutionary psychologists, sociobiologists, and behavioral ecologists. The research is for the most part not armchair theorizing, but the analysis of painfully collected and minutely analyzed data on small scale societies. After two chapters of nicely developed theory, the book offers five chapters on mating, followed by another five chapters on parenting.

The book then attacks a major problem in sociobiology: the demographic transition, which occurred in Europe a century ago, and is occuring in many developing nations today. The demographic transition consists of a fall in the birth rate following a rise in per capital income---an event that is quite unexpected, since sociobiology is based on the notion that humans are/were in their evolutionary history, fitness maximizers. The most plausible explanation, offered by Kaplan and Lancaster, is that humans do not maximize fitness, but rather a combination of fitness and welfare. The implications of this for social theory are immense, and begin to draw sociobiology back into conformance with economic theory, which stresses utility maximization.

The book then presents four papers on human sociality. These papers, while quite impressive, are to my mind excessively closely tied to Robert Triver's notion of reciprocal altruism, and more broadly, Richard Alexander's slightly broader notion of indirect altruism. I think recent evidence fairly conclusively shows that human behavior is not self-interested even in the widest sense, and some theory of multilevel selection and/or culture/gene coevolution is needed to explain human sociality in an acceptable manner.

Book Description

Over the past twenty-five years, evolutionary ecology has grown into an exciting and dynamic area of research in the biological sciences. Only in the last decade, however, has there been noteworthy progress in adapting theory, concepts, and models from this field for analysis of human behavior and evolution.

The present volume represents the conviction that anthropological applications of evolutionary ecology have now developed to the point where a systematic, book-length treatment is warranted. The result is a collection of original, commissioned articles by leading authorities - a collaborative effort in the full sense - unified by a common theoretical framework and consistency of scope.

Each chapter presents a set of key concepts and models, and describes selected case studies that illustrate the theoretical and methodological advances of human evolutionary ecology. Chapters cover topics as diverse as primate social structure, hominid evolution, food acquisition strategies, time allocation, habitat use, collective action, competition, reproductive strategies, and population dynamics. Collectively, they demonstrate that evolutionary ecology provides a powerful framework for analyzing topics of broad concern to the social sciences.

Apart from its usefulness as a primary text, the book's synthetic breadth makes it a valuable reference tool for social and behavioral scientists, anthropologists, zoologists, ecologists, and sociobiologists.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Resource!.......2000-02-25

This is an excellent text for an introduction to the application of evolutionary ecology's theory and methods to human behavior as well as containing information for those acquainted with the subject. It covers theoretical foundations of evolutionary ecology, followed by a series of papers covering the evolutionary ecology of primates, human ecology (resources and survival issues), and human social relations (cooperation, conflict, collective action, etc.). Well written, clear, and concise! Information is presented in accesible language, unlike many academic texts.

Inujjuamiut Foraging Strategies: Evolutionary Ecology of an Arctic Hunting Economy (Foundations of Human Behavior)

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Inujjuamiut Foraging Strategies: Evolutionary Ecology of an Arctic Hunting Economy (Foundations of Human Behavior)
Eric Smith
Manufacturer: Aldine Transaction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Economic Conditions | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

Humans have spent most of their evolutionary history in foraging economies. Inujjuamiut Foraging Strategies evaluates the utility of models drawn from evolutionary ecology, including optimal foraging theory, in analyzing the subsistence economy of a contemporary hunting-gathering people. It synthesizes the theory and analytical techniques of evolutionary ecology and microeconomics with the general concern of anthropology, especially ecological anthropology.

Book Description

Anthropologists have traditionally ignored the New World primates because they are not in the mainstream of evolution leading to the human species. Yet, because they exhibit parallel adaptations to those of apes and Old World monkeys - tool use, a wider variety of mating systems, and parallels to human language - they provide us with a unique source of information. This book, whose contributors are leading experts on various aspects of New World monkeys, explores the tremendous diversity to be found among neotropical primate species that have adapted to the highly varied Central and South American ecosystems. These studies provide striking similarities to, as well as intriguing differences from, the heretofore better known adaptations in the Old World. In the process, they shed new light upon the evolutionary process as it is played out among our primate relations on a neotropical stage.

Book Description

Reproductive ecology is one of the most exciting and fastest-growing subareas of evolutionary anthropology. Thanks to recently developed, noninvasive techniques for monitoring key aspects of reproductive physiology, new investigations into the interactions between reproduction and a broad array of ecological, behavioral, and constitutional variables can now be carried out under the full range of cultural and ecological conditions that characterize human beings and wild primates. Not only do these studies dramatically expand our understanding of human and primate physiology, but they shed fresh light on central issues in human evolution as well. In Reproductive Ecology and Human Evolution, Dr. Ellison, one of the pioneers in this new field, brings together thirty-one of the most active and influential scientists investigating the evolutionary ecology of primate and human reproduction. The resulting volume both captures the current state of the field and charts the research agenda that will guide its future.

The volume's eighteen chapters are grouped into four sections that reflect the central focus of the contributions: Physiological Context; Ecological Context; Developmental Context; and Comparative Context,. The lively nature of the field is echoed in the resonance that extends to many of the individual chapters, wherein areas of controversy and disagreement are presented along with areas of consolidation and consensus. Students and researchers in the fields of biological anthropology, human biology, and primatology, as well as those from adjacent disciplines such as demography, medicine, social anthropology, and public health, will find Reproductive Ecology and Human Evolution an indispensable guide to the frontiers of this exciting terrain

Topics in Primatology: Human Origins/Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation/Evolutionary Biology, Reproductive Endocrinology, and Virology
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Topics in Primatology: Human Origins/Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation/Evolutionary Biology, Reproductive Endocrinology, and Virology
Inoue Mezaki
Manufacturer: University of Tokyo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Primatology | Zoology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0860084892

Evolutionary Ecology and Human Behavior
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Evolutionary Ecology and Human Behavior
Eric Alden/ Winterhalder, Bruce (EDT) Smith
Manufacturer: Aldine Transaction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OOIQ5S

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Evolutionary Ecology and Human Behavior
Eric Alden Smith
Manufacturer: Walter De Gruyter Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000V2KSLI

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Evolutionary Ecology and Human Behavior (Foundations of Human Behaviour)

Manufacturer: Walter de Gruyter & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Anthropology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Sociobiology | Anthropology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 3110138441

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