The Science of Good and Evil Why People Cheat, Gossip, Care, Share, and Follow the Golden Rule

by Shermer, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780805077698
• ISBN10: 0805077693
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-01-02
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks

Summary

From bestselling author Michael Shermer, an investigation of the evolution of morality that is "a paragon of popularized science and philosophy" The Sun (Baltimore) A century and a half after Darwin first proposed an "evolutionary ethics," science has begun to tackle the roots of morality. Just as evolutionary biologists study why we are hungry (to motivate us to eat) or why sex is enjoyable (to motivate us to procreate), they are now searching for the very nature of humanity. InThe Science of Good and Evil, science historian Michael Shermer explores how humans evolved from social primates to moral primates; how and why morality motivates the human animal; and how the foundation of moral principles can be built upon empirical evidence. Along the way he explains the implications of scientific findings for fate and free will, the existence of pure good and pure evil, and the development of early moral sentiments among the first humans. As he closes the divide between science and morality, Shermer draws on stories from the Yanamamouml;, infamously known as the "fierce people" of the tropical rain forest, to the Stanford studies on jailers' behavior in prisons.The Science of Good and Evilis ultimately a profound look at the moral animal, belief, and the scientific pursuit of truth.

Author Biography

Michael Shermer is the publisher of Skeptic magazine, the founder and director of the Skeptics Society, and a monthly columnist for Scientific American. He is the author of the bestselling Why People Believe Weird Things, How We Believe, and Science Friction, which will be published in January 2005 (see page 35). He lives in Los Angeles, California.

Table of Contents

Prologue: One Long Argument	1	(14)
I. The Origins of Morality
Transcendent Morality: How Evolution Ennobles Ethics	15	(9)
Why We Are Moral: The Evolutionary Origins of Morality	24	(41)
Why We Are Immoral: War, Violence, and the Ignoble Savage Within	65	(40)
Master of My Fate: Making Moral Choices in a Determined Universe	105	(36)
II. A Science of Provisional Ethics
Can We Be Good Without God?: Science, Religion, and Morality	141	(16)
How We Are Moral: Absolute, Relative, and Provisional Ethics	157	(24)
How We Are Immoral: Right and Wrong and How to Tell the Difference	181	(42)
Rise Above: Tolerance, Freedom, and the Prospects for Humanity	223	(42)
Appendix I: The Devil Under Form of Baboon: The Evolution of Evolutionary Ethics	265	(20)
Appendix II: Moral and Religious Universals as a Subset of Human Universals	285	(8)
Notes	293	(24)
Bibliography	317	(14)
Illustration Credits	331	(2)
Acknowledgments	333	(4)
Index	337

Excerpts

From The Science of Good and Evil:

Examples of pre-moral sentiments among animals abound. Vampire bats share food and follow the principal of reciprocity. They go out at night in hoards seeking large sleeping mammals from which they can suck blood. Not all are successful, yet all need to eat regularly because of their excessively high metabolism. On average, older experienced bats fail one night in ten, younger inexperienced bats fail one night in three. Their solution is that successful hunters regurgitate blood and share it with their less fortunate comrades, fully expecting reciprocity the next time they come home sans bacon. Of course, the bats are not aware they are being cooperative in any conscious sense. All animals, including human animals, are just trying to survive, and it turns out that cooperation is a good strategy.

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Excerpted from The Science of Good and Evil: Why People Cheat, Share, Gossip, and Follow the Golden Rule by Michael Shermer
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