A Darwinian Left : politics, evolution, and cooperation / Peter Singer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Singer, Peter, 1946-

Series:

Darwinism today (New Haven, Conn.)

Darwinism today

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human evolution.

Right and left (Political science).

Social Darwinism.

Socialism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (81 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, 2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this ground-breaking book, a renowned bioethicist argues that the political left must radically revise its outdated view of human nature. He shows how the insights of modern evolutionary theory, particularly on the evolution of cooperation, can help the left attain its social and political goals. Singer explains why the left originally rejected Darwinian thought and why these reasons are no longer viable. He discusses how twentieth-century thinking has transformed our understanding of Darwinian evolution, showing that it is compatible with cooperation as well as competition, and that the left can draw on this modern understanding to foster cooperation for socially desirable ends. A Darwinian left, says Singer, would still be on the side of the weak, poor, and oppressed, but it would have a better understanding of what social and economic changes would really work to benefit them. It would also work toward a higher moral status for nonhuman animals and a less anthropocentric view of our dominance over nature.

Contents:

""Cover""; ""Contents""; ""Foreword""; ""Introduction""; ""The need for a new foundation""; ""What is essential to the left?""; ""1 Politics and Darwinism""; ""The right-wing takeover""; ""Facts and values""; ""How the left got Darwin wrong""; ""The dream of perfectibility""; ""Old tunes keep coming back""; ""2 Can the Left Accept a Darwinian View of Human Nature?""; ""Unpopular ideas""; ""What is fixed and what is variable in human nature?""; ""How can reformers leam from Darwin?""; ""3 Competition or Cooperation?""; ""Building a more cooperative society""; ""The prisoner's dilemma""

""Learning from Tit for Tat""""4 From Cooperation to Altruism?""; ""The puzzle of the evolution of altruism""; ""Status for what?""; ""5 A Darwinian Left for Today and Beyond""; ""Notes and References""

Notes:

Originally published: London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1999.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 64-70) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed October 12, 2013).

ISBN:

0-300-18999-0

OCLC:

923604679