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Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels : How Human Values Evolve / Ian Morris; Stephen Macedo.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Morris, Ian, author.
- Series:
- The University Center for Human Values Series
- The University Center for Human Values Series ; 41
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Civilization--Forecasting.
- Civilization.
- Civilization--History.
- Fossil fuels--Social aspects--History.
- Fossil fuels.
- Agriculture--Social aspects--History.
- Agriculture.
- Hunting and gathering societies--History.
- Hunting and gathering societies.
- Power resources--Social aspects--History.
- Power resources.
- Social change--History.
- Social change.
- Social evolution--History.
- Social evolution.
- Social values--History.
- Social values.
- Genre:
- Electronic books.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (395 p.)
- Edition:
- Updated
- Place of Publication:
- Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2015]
- Language Note:
- English
- Summary:
- Most people in the world today think democracy and gender equality are good, and that violence and wealth inequality are bad. But most people who lived during the 10,000 years before the nineteenth century thought just the opposite. Drawing on archaeology, anthropology, biology, and history, Ian Morris explains why. Fundamental long-term changes in values, Morris argues, are driven by the most basic force of all: energy. Humans have found three main ways to get the energy they need-from foraging, farming, and fossil fuels. Each energy source sets strict limits on what kinds of societies can succeed, and each kind of society rewards specific values. But if our fossil-fuel world favors democratic, open societies, the ongoing revolution in energy capture means that our most cherished values are very likely to turn out not to be useful any more. Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels offers a compelling new argument about the evolution of human values, one that has far-reaching implications for how we understand the past-and for what might happen next. Originating as the Tanner Lectures delivered at Princeton University, the book includes challenging responses by classicist Richard Seaford, historian of China Jonathan Spence, philosopher Christine Korsgaard, and novelist Margaret Atwood.
- Contents:
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction / Macedo, Stephen
- Chapter 1. Each Age Gets the Thought it Needs
- Chapter 2. Foragers
- Chapter 3. Farmers
- Chapter 4. Fossil Fuels
- Chapter 5. The Evolution of Values: Biology, Culture, and the Shape of Things to Come
- Comments
- Chapter 6. On the Ideology of Imagining That "Each Age Gets the Thought It Needs" / Seaford, Richard
- Chapter 7. But What Was It Really Like? The Limitations of Measuring Historical Values / Spence, Jonathan D.
- Chapter 8. Eternal Values, Evolving Values, and the Value of the Self / Korsgaard, Christine M.
- Chapter 9. When the Lights Go Out: Human Values after the Collapse of Civilization / Atwood, Margaret
- Response
- Chapter 10. My Correct Views on Everything / Morris, Ian
- Notes
- References
- Contributors
- Index
- Notes:
- Description based upon print version of record.
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 305-339) and index.
- Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Mai 2019)
- ISBN:
- 9780691175898
- 0691175896
- 9781400865512
- 1400865514
- OCLC:
- 904404393
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