The Origins of Virtue is a 1996 popular sciencebook by Matt Ridley, which has been recognised as a classic in its field.[1] In the book, Ridley explores the issues surrounding the development of humanmorality. The book, written from a sociobiological viewpoint, explores how genetics can be used to explain certain traits of human behaviour, in particular morality and altruism.
Starting from the premise that society can on a simplistic level be represented as a variant of the prisoner's dilemma, Ridley examines how it has been possible for a society to arise in which people choose to co-operate rather than defect.
Ridley examines the history of different attempts which have been made to explain the fact that humans in society do not defect, looking at various computer generated models which have been used to explain how such behaviour could arise. In particular he looks at systems based on the idea of tit for tat, where members of the group only cooperate with those who also cooperate and exclude those who do not. This allows altruistic behaviour to develop, and causes the optimum solution to the dilemma, to no longer be to defect but instead to cooperate. He applies this to humans and suggests that genes which generated altruistic-tit for tat behaviour would be likely to be passed on and therefore give rise to the kind of behaviour we see today.
From this argument Ridley argues that society operates best in groups of around 150 individuals, which he suggests is the level at which humans are capable of being sure about which members to cooperate with and which to exclude. Although he avoids drawing any specific political points, Ridley ends his book by arguing for a smaller state operating on a more local level.
origins, virtue, 1996, popular, science, book, matt, ridley, which, been, recognised, classic, field, book, ridley, explores, issues, surrounding, development, human, morality, book, written, from, sociobiological, viewpoint, explores, genetics, used, explain,. The Origins of Virtue is a 1996 popular science book by Matt Ridley which has been recognised as a classic in its field 1 In the book Ridley explores the issues surrounding the development of human morality The book written from a sociobiological viewpoint explores how genetics can be used to explain certain traits of human behaviour in particular morality and altruism The Origins of VirtueCover of the first editionAuthorMatt RidleyCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglishSubjectSociobiologyPublisherViking Penguin Books Publication date1996Media typePrint Hardcover Pages295ISBN0 670 86357 2OCLC36117654Dewey Decimal304 5 21LC ClassQH366 2 R525 1996Starting from the premise that society can on a simplistic level be represented as a variant of the prisoner s dilemma Ridley examines how it has been possible for a society to arise in which people choose to co operate rather than defect Ridley examines the history of different attempts which have been made to explain the fact that humans in society do not defect looking at various computer generated models which have been used to explain how such behaviour could arise In particular he looks at systems based on the idea of tit for tat where members of the group only cooperate with those who also cooperate and exclude those who do not This allows altruistic behaviour to develop and causes the optimum solution to the dilemma to no longer be to defect but instead to cooperate He applies this to humans and suggests that genes which generated altruistic tit for tat behaviour would be likely to be passed on and therefore give rise to the kind of behaviour we see today From this argument Ridley argues that society operates best in groups of around 150 individuals which he suggests is the level at which humans are capable of being sure about which members to cooperate with and which to exclude Although he avoids drawing any specific political points Ridley ends his book by arguing for a smaller state operating on a more local level References Edit T Kealey 2000 Nature Genetics 24 21 External links EditNew York Times May 11 1997 Review Jack Hirshleifer 1997 UCLA Working Paper 771 Review L Markoczy amp J Goldberg 1997 The virtue of human universals and cooperation A review essay of Matt Ridley s The Origins of VirtueSee also EditAnimal Faith Evolutionary ethics Evolution of morality nbsp This article about a science related book is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte nbsp This article about a book on ethics is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Origins of Virtue amp oldid 1024964457, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
