authors:
- Tomasello, Michael
content: 'A magisterial synthesis of empirical results and philosophical arguments
concerning anthropology, sociology, human psychology and evolutionary history. How
can human morality be the product of the seemingly amoral process of evolution?
The discussion is grounded in empirical results concerning the common and divergent
behaviors of human children and chimpanzees (our nearest evolutionary relative).
The focus in this book is on how cooperation, joint intentionality and fairness
based on other-self equivalence eventually has evolved into morality. The argument
draws a long, winding curve through the dots provided by the empirical results and
philosophical considerations.
This was not an easy read. I had to go slowly, carefully thinking about what the
theory and arguments state. But it was certainly rewarding. I have changed my views
on the "naturalness" of equality, and of how social norms work, and why they are
so important.'
date: '2018-01-23'
edition:
published: '2016'
publisher: Harvard University Press
goodreads: '25949164'
html: '<p>A magisterial synthesis of empirical results and philosophical arguments
concerning anthropology, sociology, human psychology and evolutionary history. How
can human morality be the product of the seemingly amoral process of evolution?
The discussion is grounded in empirical results concerning the common and divergent
behaviors of human children and chimpanzees (our nearest evolutionary relative).
The focus in this book is on how cooperation, joint intentionality and fairness
based on other-self equivalence eventually has evolved into morality. The argument
draws a long, winding curve through the dots provided by the empirical results and
philosophical considerations.</p>
<p>This was not an easy read. I had to go slowly, carefully thinking about what
the theory and arguments state. But it was certainly rewarding. I have changed my
views on the "naturalness" of equality, and of how social norms work,
and why they are so important.</p>
'
isbn: '9780674088641'
language: en
lastmod: '2018-01-23'
path: /library/tomasello-2016.html
published: '2016'
rating: 5
reference: Tomasello 2016
reviewed: '2018-01-23'
subjects:
- favorites
- human-evolution
- morality
- political-philosophy
- science
title: A Natural History of Human Morality
type: book
year: 2016