The Ant and the Peacock: Altruism and Sexual Selection from Darwin to Today

by Helena Cronin , Foreword by John Maynard Smith

• ISBN13: 9780521457651
• ISBN10: 0521457653
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1993-09-24
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book is a success story. It explains two long-running puzzles of the theory of natural selection. How can natural selection favour those, like the ant, that renounce tooth and claw in favour of the public-spirited ways of the commune? How can it explain the peacock's tail, flamboyant and a burden to its bearer; surely selection would act against useless ornamentation? Helena Cronin's enthralling account blends history, science and philosophy in a gripping tale that is scholarly, entertaining and eminently readable. The hardback edition was selected by Nature as one of the best scientific books in 1992. Also the New York Times chose it as one of their best books of 1992. The author divides her time between the Philosophy Department at the London School of Economics and the Zoology Department at Oxford.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Part I. Darwinism, Its Rivals and Its Renegades: 1. Walking archives

2. A world without Darwin

3. Darwinism old and new

Part II. The Peacock: 4. The sting in the peacock's tail

5. Nothing but natural selection?

6. Can females shape males?

7. Do sensible females prefer sexy males?

8. 'Until careful experiments are made ...'

9. Ghosts of Darwinism surpassed

Part III. The Ant: 10. Altruism now

11. Altruism then

12. The social insects: kind kin

13. Make dove, not war: conventional forces

14. Human altruism: a natural kind?

15. Breeding between the lines

Epilogue

Notes on the letters of Darwin and Wallace

Bibliography

Index.