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84Morality and ‘Unto Others': Response to commentary discussionJournal of Consciousness Studies 7 (1-2): 257-268. 2000.We address the following issues raised by the commentators of our target article and book: (1) the problem of multiple perspectives; (2) how to define group selection; (3) distinguishing between the concepts of altruism and organism; (4) genetic versus cultural group selection; (5) the dark side of group selection; (6) the relationship between psychological and evolutionary altruism; (7) the question of whether the psychological questions can be answered; (8) psychological experiments. We thank …Read more
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249Summary of: ‘Unto Others. The evolution and psychology of unselfish behavior'Journal of Consciousness Studies 7 (1-2): 185-206. 2000.The hypothesis of group selection fell victim to a seemingly devastating critique in 1960s evolutionary biology. In Unto Others (1998), we argue to the contrary, that group selection is a conceptually coherent and empirically well documented cause of evolution. We suggest, in addition, that it has been especially important in human evolution. In the second part of Unto Others, we consider the issue of psychological egoism and altruism -- do human beings have ultimate motives concerning the well-…Read more
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Health and the Ecology of AltruismIn Stephen Garrard Post (ed.), Altruism and Health: Perspectives From Empirical Research, Oup Usa. 2007.
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Group level evolutionary processesIn Robin Dunbar & Louise Barrett (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, Oxford University Press. 2009.
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11Pathology, evolution, and altruismIn Barbara Oakley, Ariel Knafo, Guruprasad Madhavan & David Sloan Wilson (eds.), Pathological Altruism, Oxford University Press. 2011.
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7Historical Overview To see why cooperation and altruism pose a prob-lem for evolutionary theory, consider the evolution of a nonsocial adaptation, such as cryptic color-ation. Imagine a population of moths that vary inIn C. W. Fox D. A. Roff (ed.), Evolutionary Ecology: Concepts and Case Studies, . 2001.
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26On the inappropriate use of the naturalistic fallacy in evolutionary psychologyBiology and Philosophy 18 (5): 669-681. 2003.The naturalistic fallacy is mentioned frequently by evolutionary psychologists as an erroneous way of thinking about the ethical implications of evolved behaviors. However, evolutionary psychologists are themselves confused about the naturalistic fallacy and use it inappropriately to forestall legitimate ethical discussion. We briefly review what the naturalistic fallacy is and why it is misused by evolutionary psychologists. Then we attempt to show how the ethical implications of evolved behavi…Read more
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20Levels of selection: An alternative to individualism in biology and the human sciencesIn Elliott Sober (ed.), Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology, The Mit Press. Bradford Books. 1994.
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29Human Groups as Adaptive UnitsIn Peter Carruthers, Stephen Laurence & Stephen P. Stich (eds.), The Innate Mind: Structure and Contents, Oxford University Press Usa. pp. 78. 2005.
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Evolution and Contextual Behavioral ScienceIn David Sloan Wilson, Steven C. Hayes & Anthony Biglan (eds.), Evolution & contextual behavioral science: an integrated framework for understanding, predicting, & influencing human behavior, Context Press, an Imprint of New Harbinger Publications. 2018.
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Small Groups : 14. Small Groups as Fundamental Units of Social OrganizationIn David Sloan Wilson, Steven C. Hayes & Anthony Biglan (eds.), Evolution & contextual behavioral science: an integrated framework for understanding, predicting, & influencing human behavior, Context Press, an Imprint of New Harbinger Publications. 2018.
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Dialogue on Psychopathology and Behavior ChangeIn David Sloan Wilson, Steven C. Hayes & Anthony Biglan (eds.), Evolution & contextual behavioral science: an integrated framework for understanding, predicting, & influencing human behavior, Context Press, an Imprint of New Harbinger Publications. 2018.
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Dialogue on Behavioral and Physical HealthIn David Sloan Wilson, Steven C. Hayes & Anthony Biglan (eds.), Evolution & contextual behavioral science: an integrated framework for understanding, predicting, & influencing human behavior, Context Press, an Imprint of New Harbinger Publications. 2018.
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Dialogue on Small GroupsIn David Sloan Wilson, Steven C. Hayes & Anthony Biglan (eds.), Evolution & contextual behavioral science: an integrated framework for understanding, predicting, & influencing human behavior, Context Press, an Imprint of New Harbinger Publications. 2018.
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Dialogue on Organizational DevelopmentIn David Sloan Wilson, Steven C. Hayes & Anthony Biglan (eds.), Evolution & contextual behavioral science: an integrated framework for understanding, predicting, & influencing human behavior, Context Press, an Imprint of New Harbinger Publications. 2018.
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24Evolution & contextual behavioral science: an integrated framework for understanding, predicting, & influencing human behavior (edited book)Context Press, an imprint of New Harbinger Publications. 2018.Evolutionary science (ES) and contextual behavioral science (CBS) have developed largely independently during the last half century. However, the earlier histories of these two bodies of knowledge are thoroughly entwined. ES provides a unifying theoretical framework for the biological sciences, and is increasingly being applied to human-related sciences. Meanwhile, CBS is concerned with influencing human behavior in a practical sense. This groundbreaking volume seeks to integrate ES and CBS to p…Read more
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5Does Altruism Exist?: Culture, Genes, and the Welfare of OthersYale University Press. 2015._A powerful treatise that demonstrates the existence of altruism in nature, with surprising implications for human society_ Does altruism exist? Or is human nature entirely selfish? In this eloquent and accessible book, famed biologist David Sloan Wilson provides new answers to this age-old question based on the latest developments in evolutionary science. From an evolutionary viewpoint, Wilson argues, altruism is inextricably linked to the functional organization of groups. “Groups that work” u…Read more
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11Does Altruism Exist?: Culture, Genes, and the Welfare of OthersYale University Press. 2015._A powerful treatise that demonstrates the existence of altruism in nature, with surprising implications for human society_ Does altruism exist? Or is human nature entirely selfish? In this eloquent and accessible book, famed biologist David Sloan Wilson provides new answers to this age-old question based on the latest developments in evolutionary science. From an evolutionary viewpoint, Wilson argues, altruism is inextricably linked to the functional organization of groups. “Groups that work” u…Read more
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Dialogue on Organizational DevelopmentIn David Sloan Wilson, Steven C. Hayes & Anthony Biglan (eds.), Evolution & contextual behavioral science: an integrated framework for understanding, predicting, & influencing human behavior, Context Press, an Imprint of New Harbinger Publications. 2018.
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54Pathological Altruism (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2011.Pathological Altruism presents a number of new, thought-provoking theses that explore a range of hurtful effects of altruism and empathy.
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36Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin’s Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our LivesDelacorte Press. 2007.Wilson outlines the basic principles of evolution with stories that entertain as much as they inform, and shows how, properly understood, these principles can illuminate the length and breadth of creation, from the origin of life to the nature of religion. Now everyone can move beyond the sterile debates about creationism and intelligent design to share Darwin's panoramic view of animal and human life, seamlessly connected to each other. Evolution, as Wilson explains, is not just about dinosaurs…Read more
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13Précis of Unto OthersPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 65 (3): 681-684. 2002.The substance of the commentaries, however, reveals considerable disagreement about how UO conceptualizes the idea of group selection. Dennett describes the issues as “mind-twistingly elusive and slippery” and hints that it is mere hype to say that group selection has been revived. Barrett and Godfrey-Smith discuss the problem of multiple perspectives at length and claim that we are too liberal in our definition of groups. We believe that these criticisms obscure the simplicity of the basic ques…Read more
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10Précis of Unto OthersPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 65 (3): 681-684. 2002.It is a challenge to explain how evolutionary altruism can evolve by the process of natural selection, since altruists in a group will be less fit than the selfish individuals in the same group who receive benefits but do not make donations of their own. Darwin proposed a theory of group selection to solve this puzzle. Very simply, even though altruists are less fit than selfish individuals within any single group, groups of altruists are more fit than groups of selfish individuals. If a populat…Read more
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3Unto OthersIn Michael Ruse (ed.), Philosophy After Darwin: Classic and Contemporary Readings, Princeton University Press. pp. 433-451. 2009.
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43Testing major evolutionary hypotheses about religion with a random sampleHuman Nature 16 (4): 382-409. 2005.
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11The challenge of understanding complexityBehavioral and Brain Sciences 23 (1): 163-164. 2000.Those who emphasize complexity must show how it can be studied productively. Laland et al.'s target article partially succeeds but at times gets lost in a sea of possibilities. I discuss the challenge of understanding complexity, especially with respect to multilevel evolution.
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50Sociopathy within and between small groupsBehavioral and Brain Sciences 18 (3): 577-577. 1995.If sociopathy is a biological adaptation, it probably evolved in small social groups in which individuals lacked the social mobility required for a con-man strategy to work. On the other hand, conflicts between groups may have provided a large niche for sociopathy throughout human history
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94Species of thought: A comment on evolutionary epistemologyBiology and Philosophy 5 (1): 37-62. 1990.The primary outcome of natural selection is adaptation to an environment. The primary concern of epistemology is the acquistion of knowledge. Evolutionary epistemology must therefore draw a fundamental connection between adaptation and knowledge. Existing frameworks in evolutionary epistemology do this in two ways; (a) by treating adaptation as a form of knowledge, and (b) by treating the ability to acquire knowledge as a biologically evolved adaptation. I criticize both frameworks for failing t…Read more
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3Should New Economic Thinking Be Incremental or Paradigmatic?Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture 2 (1): 37-40. 2018.