Why read The Goodness Paradox?

Book cover of The Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution

Book description

“A fascinating new analysis of human violence, filled with fresh ideas and gripping evidence from our primate cousins, historical forebears, and contemporary neighbors.”
—Steven Pinker, author of The Better Angels of Our Nature

We Homo sapiens can be the nicest of species and also the nastiest. What occurred during human…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Goodness Paradox as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Stephen K. Sanderson

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The author seeks to use evolutionary principles to explain why human violence within societies is uncommon whereas violence between societies, expressed mainly as war, is very common. Chimpanzees are a violent species in which both types of violence are extremely common. Males compete for dominance in violent ways and males frequently direct their violence toward females. But with respect to within-society violence humans have “domesticated” themselves, mostly by, over hundreds of thousands of years, killing the most violent and dangerous males. With respect to between-society violence, however, humans remain chimp-like. Chimps are notorious for intercommunity raiding and killing, and the…

From Stephen's list on understanding the biological basis of social life.