Beyond biofatalism
Subtitle: human nature for an evolving world
By: Gillian Barker
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 162
ISBN-13: 9780231171885
Subjects: Evolutionary psychology; Behavior evolution; Social evolution; Human evolution
Description: "Beyond Biofatalism is a lively and penetrating response to the idea that evolutionary psychology reveals human beings to be incapable of building a more inclusive, cooperative, and egalitarian society. Considering the pressures of climate change, unsustainable population growth, increasing income inequality, and religious extremism, this attitude promises to stifle the creative action we require before we even try to meet these threats. Beyond Biofatalism provides the perspective we need to understand that better societies are not only possible but actively enabled by human nature. Gilliam Barker appreciates the methods and findings of evolutionary psychologists, but she considers their work against a broader background to show human nature is surprisingly open to social change. Like other organisms, we possess an active plasticity that allows us to respond dramatically to certain kinds of environmental variation, and we engage in niche construction, modifying our environment to affect others and ourselves. Barker uses related research in social psychology, developmental biology, ecology, and economics to reinforce this view of evolved human nature, and philosophical exploration to reveal its broader implications"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 143-154) and index.
Table of contents: title: Human nature and the limits of human possibility; title: The cost of change; title: Thinking about change and stability in living systems; title: Lessons from development, ecology, and evolutionary biology; title: Human possibilities; title: Valuing change; title: Choosing environments; title: What is feasible?; title: Evolutionary psychology and human possibilities.