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Unto others:

the evolution and psychology of unselfish behavior
Front Cover
3 Reviews
Harvard University Press, 1998 - Science - 394 pages

No matter what we do, however kind or generous our deeds may seem, a hidden motive of selfishness lurks--or so science has claimed for years. This book, whose publication promises to be a major scientific event, tells us differently. In Unto Others philosopher Elliott Sober and biologist David Sloan Wilson demonstrate once and for all that unselfish behavior is in fact an important feature of both biological and human nature. Their book provides a panoramic view of altruism throughout the animal kingdom--from self-sacrificing parasites to insects that subsume themselves in the superorganism of a colony to the human capacity for selflessness--even as it explains the evolutionary sense of such behavior.

Explaining how altruistic behavior can evolve by natural selection, this book finally gives credence to the idea of group selection that was originally proposed by Darwin but denounced as heretical in the 1960s. With their account of this controversy, Sober and Wilson offer a detailed case study of scientific change as well as an indisputable argument for group selection as a legitimate theory in evolutionary biology.

Unto Others also takes a novel evolutionary approach in explaining the ultimate psychological motives behind unselfish human behavior. Developing a theory of the proximate mechanisms that most likely evolved to motivate adaptive helping behavior, Sober and Wilson show how people and perhaps other species evolved the capacity to care for others as a goal in itself.

A truly interdisciplinary work that blends biology, philosophy, psychology, and anthropology, this book will permanently change not just our view of selfless behavior but also our understanding of many issues in evolutionary biology and the social sciences.

  

What people are saying - Write a review

Review: Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior

User Review  - John Wylie - Goodreads

This book was the voice in the wilderness when group selection was in the academic penitentiary. Read full review

Review: Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior

User Review  - Fred R - Goodreads

Perhaps as strong a case as can be made for group selection. The second half, in which the co-authors attempt to determine whether or not humans are "really" selfish, is fine enough for philosophers but caviar to myself and the rest of the general. Read full review

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Contents

Benthams Corpse
1
Altruism as a Biological Concept
17
A Unified Evolutionary Theory of Social Behavior
55
Adaptation and Multilevel Selection
101
Group Selection and Human Behavior
132
Human Groups as Adaptive Units
159
Motives as Proximate Mechanisms
199
Three Theories of Motivation
223
Psychological Evidence
251
Philosophical Arguments
275
The Evolution of Psychological Altruism
296
Pluralism
329
Notes
339
References
363
Index
387
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Unto others: the evolution and psychology of unselfish behavior
Unto others: the evolution and psychology of unselfish behavior
Elliott Sober,David Sloan Wilson
Snippet view - 1998

Common terms and phrases

adaptive units altru altruism hypothesis altruistic ultimate motives argument averaging fallacy avoid pain Batson behave beliefs and desires benefit between-group selection biological brain worm causes Chapter claim concept cultures described Dinka egoism and altruism empathy empathy-altruism hypothesis evolution of altruism evolutionary biologists evolutionary game theory evolve by group example exist experience machine explain fact feel frequency genetic genotype global population group selection Hamilton hedonism hedonistic heritable high-empathy host human behavior human groups inclusive fitness individual selection interactions kin selection magnetosome mate maximize moral multilevel selection theory natural selection Nuer offspring organism parents parsimony perspective phenotypic plug pluralistic population structure predictions primary behaviors problem produce proposition proximate mechanism psychological altruism psychological egoism question reason relative fitness require secondary behaviors selfish gene selfish gene theory social norms societies species strategy tion trait types ultimate desires variation among groups virulence within-group selection

References to this book

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From Google Scholar

Philosophy of Biology
ELLIOTT SOBER
The Neural Basis of Altruistic Punishment
Dominique J-F de Quervain, Urs Fischbacher, Valerie Treyer, Melanie Schellhammer, Ulrich ... - 2004 - Science
The evolution of altruistic punishment
Robert Boyd, Herbert Gintis, Samuel Bowles, Peter J Richerson - 2003 - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
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Herbert Gintis
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References from web pages

Elliott Sober and David Sloan Wilson: Unto Others: The Evolution ...
279. BOOK REVIEW. The Journal of Value Inquiry 35: 279–283, 2001. BOOK REVIEW. Elliott Sober and David Sloan Wilson, Unto Others: The Evolution and ...
www.springerlink.com/ index/ W132685U26W11J43.pdf

JSTOR: Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior
BOOK REVIEWS BOOK REVIEWS Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior. ELLIOTT SOBER and DAVID SLOAN WILSON. ...
links.jstor.org/ sici?sici=0022-362X(200101)98%3A1%3C43%3AUOTEAP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-O

Unto Others The Evolution And Psychology of Unselfish Behavior by ...
A Definitive Case for Group Selection. D. arwin appealed to group selec-. tion in order to explain the evo-. lution of human morality, and ...
doi.wiley.com/ 10.1002/ (SICI)1099-0526(199911/ 12)5:2%3C33::AID-CPLX6%3E3.0.CO;2-6

Evolution and Human Behavior : Unto Others: The Evolution and ...
Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior;. Elliott Sober and David Sloan Wilson, Harvard University Press, 1998, 394 pp. ...
linkinghub.elsevier.com/ retrieve/ pii/ S1090513899000203

Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior
Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior. ,. by Elliot Sober and David Sloan Wilson. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University ...
mind.oxfordjournals.org/ cgi/ reprint/ 111/ 441/ 178.pdf

The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease - Fulltext: Volume 187 ...
Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior. [Books]. Zahn-Waxler, Carolyn Ph.D.; Hastings, Paul D. Ph.D. Developmental Psychopathology ...
www.jonmd.com/ pt/ re/ jnmd/ fulltext.00005053-199910000-00011.htm;jsessionid=GQTKb0w6Jtqszz2vN2pvWjR0Q3sBxhcnSHpNnlnQF7...

ingentaconnect Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of ...
Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior Elliot Sober David Sloan Wilson Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press 1999 416 Paperback ...
www.ingentaconnect.com/ content/ oup/ mind/ 2002/ 00000111/ 00000441/ 178a;jsessionid=1e89a4ae47176.alice?format=print

Commentary on Sober and Wilson, Unto Others: The Evolution and ...
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. Vol. lxv,. No. 3,. November. 2002. Commentary on Sober and Wilson,. Unto Others: The Evolution and. Psychology ...
www.blackwell-synergy.com/ doi/ abs/ 10.1111/ j.1933-1592.2002.tb00234.x

SSRN-Was Hayek Right About Group Selection After All? Review Essay ...
The publication of Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior provides an opportunity to revisit this much-maligned component of ...
papers.ssrn.com/ sol3/ papers.cfm?abstract_id=182512

Professor Elliot Sober
Unto Others - The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior . Cambridge University Press, 2001. 1999. Sole author. Sober, Elliott. ...
www.lse.ac.uk/ people/ 0000016350/ publications.htm

About the author (1998)

Elliott Sober is Hans Reichenbach Professor of Philosophy and William F. Vilas Research Professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison where he has taught since 1974. His research is in philosophy of science, especially in the philosophy of evolutionary biology. Sober's books include The Nature of Selection - Evolutionary Theory in Philosophical Focus (1984), Reconstructing the Past - Parsimony, Evolution, and Inference (1988), Philosophy of Biology (1993), From a Biological Point of View - Essays in Evolutionary Philosophy (1994), and Unto Others - The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior (1998), coauthored with David Sloan Wilson.

David Sloan Wilson is Professor of Biology at State University of New York at Binghamton.

Bibliographic information

QR code for Unto others
TitleUnto others: the evolution and psychology of unselfish behavior
Issue 218 of ISSR library
AuthorElliott Sober
EditorsElliott Sober, David Sloan Wilson
Editionillustrated, reprint
PublisherHarvard University Press, 1998
ISBN0674930479, 9780674930476
Length394 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Philosophy / Ethics & Moral Philosophy
Psychology / General
Psychology / Social Psychology
Science / Life Sciences / Biology
Science / Life Sciences / Evolution
Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural
  
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