Strong reciprocity 22 Sep 2007 On Friday I assessed an essay by a masters student on the evolution of reciprocity and altruism (she cleverly introduced a notion of benevolent behaviour rather than “altruism” in social contexts, to avoid confusion with genetic altruism. Then today my various feeds identified this rather excellent essay (more of a review paper, really) on strong reciprocity (the idea that we humans will behave reciprocally even if there is no individual payoff) by Benoit Hardy-Valée, of the University of Toronto. In this paper, he challenges what he calls “The Collective”, a group of conservative Darwinian thinkers who attempt to found natural rights on biology. The paper is full of insights and links and references. I strongly recommend it. Evolution Politics Social evolution
Evolution ROUS’s? I don’t believe they exist. 15 Jan 2008 Anyone who knows the film The Princess Bride knows what happens next. Westley gets hit hard by a rodent about the size of a pitbull. However, it seems that ROUS’s (Rodents of Unusual Size) actually may have existed, in Uruguay. Nature reports that the skull of one has been discovered,… Read More
Evolution The value of the history of science 4 Aug 20084 Oct 2017 My Sciblings Bora, John, Brian and Benjamin have asked what the value of the history of science is to scientists. Below the fold is my apologia for writing a stonking great history of a scientific concept (species, in case the sidebar wasn’t enough hint), in which I defend the worth… Read More
Evolution Species article online 27 Oct 2008 The NCSE has put up more of its content from it’s excellent, if badly laid out, magazine Reports of the NCSE. As a result, one of my better pieces, on species concepts, is now up, with a list of what I at the time thought were the concepts in the… Read More
The idea of strong reciprocity has a certain emotional appeal. It leaves us warm and comfortable that we humans are kind and just because… well, just because! No need to investigate further, nothing to see here. Case closed. We’re just nice, and that’s that. I agree with the author- it’s not that neat or simple.
Interesting paper! Speaking of evolving reciprocity, have you seen this recent study? (sorry this is just a popular account of it; I couldn’t find any linkable journal version). Apparently monkeys will protest if some get unequal pay for equal work. No word if they start singing the Internationale in Capuchin. Still, it shows that evolving concepts of fairness and justice, essential in any societal reciprocity, happened a lot longer ago than those who use our innate “goodness” as evidence for some special place for humanity in the scheme of things would allow.