Kindness in a Cruel World: The Evolution of Altruism
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Barber (formerly psychology, Birmingham-Southern College) examines "reciprocal altruism," which is said to be an part of the process of evolution. Although this concept runs contrary to the generally- accepted Darwinian concept of the survival of the fittest, Barber points out that in bee society, drones exist only for the perpetuation of the colony and cannot be said to be furthering themselves as individuals. He also examines the mechanics of pack and pride behaviors, in which individuals cooperate to feed the group, and the altruism of celibate religious in praying and caring for others exclusively. He argues that humans are reared and educated to be kind and that in most societies those without altruism are criminals or even sociopaths. He advocates more study of evolutionary altruism as a powerful tool in correcting injustice and disparity and promoting intellectual fitness. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR Publishers Weekly In a wide-ranging tour of human behavior, Barber (The Science of Romance) attempts to explain why, in a Darwinian world, altruism is alive and well. Indeed, he takes an unreservedly optimistic tone. He argues that a spirit of cooperation is in fact a result of our evolutionary history. But Barber sees altruism in virtually every behavior and form of social cooperation and thus does little to advance our knowledge of the subject. His broad definition of altruism (quite distinct from that of most evolutionary biologists, who declare that an altruistic act must have a cost greater than the benefit) permits him to lump together the feeding of young by their parents and a soldier falling on an active grenade to save his fellow soldiers as examples of the same phenomenon. Although his framework is flawed, Barber uses it as a springboard for intriguing discussions of celibacy (and pedophilia) in priests, adoption, criminology, environmentalism and karoshi (the Japanese word for death from overwork). Throughout, the author, an independent researcher and writer, presents a cross-cultural and cross-species perspective, looking for ways to generalize. Unfortunately, this leads him to oversimplify complex issues, such as the reasons for the failure of the 1997 Kyoto agreement to limit the emission of greenhouse gases and the apparent venality of the executives of Enron. (Oct.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Ch. 1Altruism : birds do it, bees do it, people do it19Ch. 2Evolution and ethics43Ch. 3Sterile castes of priests and nuns69Ch. 4Why do people grow up to be altruists?99Ch. 5Altruism among thieves133Ch. 6Kindness and health161Ch. 7Kindness among strangers203Ch. 8Conformity as altruism233Ch. 9When altruism fails267Ch. 10Tapping human altruism303Ch. 11Saving the world333Ch. 12Where have all the villains gone?357
