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The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology
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The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology description
An accessible introduction to the science of evolutionary psychology and how it explains many aspects of human nature. Unlike many books on the topic,which focus on abstractions like kin selection, this book focuses on Darwinian explanations of why we are the way we are--emotionally and morally. Wright deals particularly well with explaining the reasons for the stereotypical dynamics of the three big "S's:" sex, siblings, and society. |
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The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
Not Quite Moral
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Robin Wright is a prolific writer in the field of evolutionary psychology and a staunch supporter of New Darwinianism. In his ground breaking book, "The Moral Animal", Wright sheds light on various innate human behaviors through the prism of natural selection and cognitive psychology. He discusses origins of many peculiar tendencies such as advantages of low self esteem, self deception, the nature of monogamy in men and women, office politics, kin selection etc., all deeply rooted at the subconscious level.
In exploring morality, Wright expresses his cynical view that the road to success is paved with self serving intentions. Success is defined as passing on one's genes as far and wide into the future as possible. He postulates any tendency to gain an advantage in this endeavor, however selfish, is favored by natural selection. The goal of the supposed "moral animal" is to act as selfishly as possible while simultaneously appearing selfless to his or her peers.
In the later chapters, Wright temporarily abandons his cynical view of morality and introduces the reader to his idea of non-zero-sumness and utilitarianism: Small sacrifices on behalf of individuals resulting in larger gains for others will leave everyone better off, including the individual, and therein lies the compelling reason for moral behavior.
While Darwin's natural selection has remained an unproven theory, albeit with increasingly strong evidence pointing to its validity, Wright discloses in the appendix his bias of using natural selection to explain all human behavior, including everything that has been explained so far and "the rest". He speaks of a "faith" in the theory, which is a recipe for overreaching observations.
Despite Wright's own bias in using Darwin's life and theories constantly to explain anything and everything, his arguments are expressed in a cogent and plausible manner, and will give any reader plenty of ideas to ponder. |
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