Explaining altruism : a simulation-based approach and its limits / Eckhart Arnold.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Arnold, Eckhart.

Series:

Practical Philosophy

Practical philosophy ; Bd. 11

Practical Philosophy ; 11

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Altruism--Computer simulation.

Altruism.

Cooperativeness--Computer simulation.

Cooperativeness.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (315 p.)

Place of Publication:

Frankfurt : Ontos Verlag, 2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Employing computer simulations for the study of the evolution of altruism has been popular since Axelrod's book „The Evolution of Cooperation“. But have the myriads of simulation studies that followed in Axelrod's footsteps really increased our knowledge about the evolution of altruism or cooperation? This book examines in detail the working mechanisms of simulation based evolutionary explanations of altruism. It shows that the „theoretical insights“ that can be derived from simulation studies are often quite arbitrary and of little use for the empirical research. In the final chapter of the book, therefore, a set of epistemological requirements for computer simulations is proposed and recommendations for the proper research design of simulation studies are made.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: The riddle of altruism

Chapter 3: The generalized theory of evolution as theoretical framework

Chapter 4: Modeling the evolution of altruism

Chapter 5: Empirical research on the evolution of altruism

Chapter 6: Learning from failure

Chapter 7: Summary and final reflections

Chapter 8: Appendices

Backmatter

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

3-86838-007-8

3-11-032757-0

OCLC:

851970735