The Biological Roots of Human Nature: Forging Links Between Evolution and Behavior

By Timothy H. Goldsmith

Book Overview

In this stimulating book, Goldsmith argues that biology has a great deal to say that should be of interest to social scientists, historians, philosophers, and humanists in general. He believes that anyone studying the social behavior of humans must take into consideration both proximate cause--the physiology, biochemistry, and social mechanisms of behavior--and ultimate cause--how the behavior came to exist in evolutionary time. Goldsmith, a neurobiologist, draws examples from neurobiology, psychology, and ethology (behavioral evolution). The result is a work that overcomes many of the misconceptions that have hindered the rich contributions the biological sciences have to offer concerning the evolution of human society, behavior, and sense of identity. Among the key topics addressed are the nature of biological explanation, the relationship between genes and behavior, those aspects of behavior most likely to respond to natural selection, the relationship between evolution and learning, and some probable modes of interaction between cultural and biological evolution. By re-examining the role of biological explanation in the domain of social development, the author has significantly advanced a more well-rounded view of human evolution and shed new light on the perennial question of what it means to be human. His book will appeal to biologists, social scientists, traditional humanists, and interested general readers.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195062884
• ISBN13: 9780195062885
• Release Date: October 1991
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

The Biological Roots of Human Nature

I have found this to be an extremely useful book for introducing students to biological understandings of behavior. I have taught a course in Behavior and Religion, and found no better book with which to introduce laypeople to a biological perspective on altruism and related behaviors which often form the basis for what we consider to be matters of ethics and meaning. From the opening quotation from Robert Trivers ("Natural selection has built us, and it is natural selection we must understand if we are to comprehend our own identities . . .") the reader is forced to carry everyday logic to its obvious conclusion in assessing the cause and function of human behavior. This book has had a tremendous impact on the students in my classes, tumbling them into perhaps their first completely honest, knowing examination of their own meaning. I searched very hard for a book to present basic concepts in ethology to nonmajors, and this book was by far the best I found. Long may it remain in print!