Bittersweet Destiny: The Stormy Evolution of Human Behavior

by Thiessen,Del

• ISBN13: 9781412842570
• ISBN10: 1412842573
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781351292702
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2012-03-15
• Publisher: Routledge
• More Book Details

Summary

In Del Thiessen's words, "This is not an ordinary book." Bittersweet Destiny combines discourse on the evolution of human behavior with a philosophical perspective. It explores evolutionary theory aimed at determining human behavior. Thiessen presents this material against the broad background of everyday life, allowing the reader to see the theory of evolution as it has shaped his or her own behavior. However, he points out that when evolutionary theory is aimed at human behavior, the critics object, and controversy results. Thiessen argues that nothing in our lives makes sense unless we look at it through a biological lens. We can thereby understand our origin, our affiliation with all animals and plants, and our cultural destination. However, we can also discover a dark side to our destiny-our favoritism to those who share our own genes, our ability to deceive, and our capacity for abuse, rape, and murder. Good, bad, and indifferent, we serve the replication of our DNA. Critics extrapolate evolutionary theory to a wide range of animal species, and even human morphology and physiology, but when the same perspective is applied to human behavior there is strong dissent. What these critics fear, according to Thiessen, is that accepting evolutionary notions about human behavior strikes at the heart of free will, self-determination, and social equality. Bittersweet Destiny describes the heroic efforts of naturalists Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace to unlock the secrets of evolution. It continues with a vivid description of our fossil history and our chance beginnings. From there the story implicates disease processes in evolution, highlights our rational and irrational nature, focuses on those characteristics of brain evolution and language that make us distinctive, and illustrates our most basic survival and reproductive mechanisms. Thiessen warns the reader that things are as they are no matter what we might wish; we ignore facts and controversy at our own risk. This book will be significant to anthropologists, psychologists, biologists, and sociologists.

Author Biography

Del Thiessen is professor of evolutionary psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a member of the Institute of Neuroscience, as well as a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. His books include Gene Organization and Behavior and The Evolution and Biochemistry of Aggression.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. vii
A Short Note to the Reader	p. ix
Preface xiii
Preface to the Paperback Edition	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
Truth in the Marble
Arrow of Destiny	p. 11
The Shattered Mirror	p. 33
Valley of Becoming
Uncertain Survival	p. 49
Bones and Stones of History	p. 69
Bone Talk	p. 95
Invisible Imperative	p. 111
Undaunted Reality Submerged in Beauty	p. 141
Rules of the Mind	p. 159
Winds of Being
The Taming of the Irrational Mind	p. 179
The Strange Evolution of the Human Brain	p. 205
The Motor Basis of Mind	p. 227
The Light and Dark Sides of Consciousness	p. 249
Rush Toward Tomorrow
Years Without Solitude	p. 269
Mining the Depths of the Cultural Gene	p. 293
The Yin and Yang of Sex	p. 321
The Dark Lens of Evolution	p. 351
Into the Mountains
The Last Millennium	p. 379
Epilogue	p. 401
Index	p. 411
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