The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology

by Robert Wright

Book Overview

One of the most provocative science books ever published--a feast of great thinking and writing about the most profound issues there are (The New York Times Book Review).

Fiercely intelligent, beautifully written and engrossingly original. --The New York Times Book Review

Are men literally born to cheat? Does monogamy actually serve women's interests? These are among the questions that have made The...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679763996
• ISBN13: 9780679763994
• Release Date: August 1995
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 496 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Amazing book

This is a book on evolutionary psychology for those of is who perhaps aren’t well-versed in the technical side of it. To put it simply, this book is incredibly informative, and best of all, user friendly.

The Moral Animal

An excellent, thought provoking read which will lead readers to look inwards and reflect upon just how much of our behavior is animalistic/instinctual. I enjoyed the way which the author was able to demonstrate the concepts he discussed via anecdotes taken from Charles Darwin's life. I would recommend this to anyone recommended in psychology, evolution, or someone who is simply fond of nonfiction and wants something not overly long but not exactly short to read.

Captivating!

I read the celebrated "Moral Animal" some 10 years ago, re-read it and underlined it at least twice. Finally I had found a theory of human nature and psychology I could wholeheartedly believe in. I was looking for a great quote from that book last week, but had loaned out both copies. I ended up buying a new one, and re-read the whole thing. The quote is: "...humans are a species splendid in their array of moral equipment, tragic in their propensity to misuse it, and pathetic in their constitutional ignorance of the misuse." Experienced science journalist Robert Wright compiled the findings of this new area, evolutionary psychology (EP), for the lay reader in 1994 - and "Moral Animal" is still a timely treatise. Matt Ridley's excellent "Red Queen" was another book introducing EP around the same year. Wright writes in an engaging manner, intertwining his pearls with biographical sketches of Charles Darwin. Disclaimer: For those who are offended by the very suggestion that our behavior evolved from apes - and that our behavior is an elaborate, sophisticated manifestation of language and socialization which evolved by natural selection along with a huge brain - you won't like this book. I realize the following assessment of mine is anecdotal, but here goes: I have seen step-children treated differently than genetic children. I have seen how men and women preen, peacock-like, showing off their best (?) sides during courtships, and how they pair off in society according to commonly accepted determinants of status, differing depending on sex. I have read about and subsequently observed how people (unconsciously?) score each other during their social interactions, rating relationship values for the future. I have observed how cheating (generic sense) is more rampant in very large groups where peer-pressure ceases to be such an important deterrent. Finally, game theory concepts utilized in EP are widely adapted and used in self-help books. I could go on with other examples, but, in short, I'm a sucker for EP. Subsequently, I have read about resistance in university humanities departments to EP - humans being so special and all. We are - in the sense that our intelligence has given us free reign over our world - but humans are still very imperfect. We are poorly designed in many ways (backs, knees, tendency to war, self-delusion) - exactly what one would expect from evolution. Cockroaches or certain scorpions, which can live without food and water for almost a year, are also impressive. There is every reason to believe that our (at times) poor behavior evolved in just as Rube-Goldberg a fashion as did our (very complicated and redundant) blood clotting mechanism. Anyway, this book is superb. I will close, since I could end up nattering on for more pages than most would want to read. Consider moving "Moral Animal" to closer to the top of your TBR list. A Best Buy.

A Powerful Theory Beautifully Explained

This compelling, amusing, and carefully argued book sheds light on a theory of human nature that has devastating explanatory power, but which has been too long suppressed by ideologues who do not know the difference between explaining behavior on the one hand and condoning it on the other.Because evolutionary psychology seeks to explain human nature objectively - free of value-laden terminology - it has been attacked as a rationalization for rape, adultury, murder, etc... Hopefully this book will help clarify for the general reader that accurate information about human nature is a necessary tool for correcting or eliminating intolerable behaviors.It is written in fluid prose. Elegant metaphors appear just when they are needed, and are pushed just far enough to flesh out a given point. Personable and well timed humor lightens things up regularly. Most importantly, Wright leads the reader through the frequently complex and sometimes seemingly contradictory insights of evolutionary psychology with consumate skill.

A classic worth a second look and an update

Although first published in 1994, a long time ago in the rapidly developing science of evolutionary psychology, Robert Wright's seminal book remains an excellent introduction to the subject. The text crackles with an incisive wit that says, yes we're animals, but we can live with that. The discussion is thorough, ranging from a rather intense focus on Charles Darwin and his life through the sexist and morality debate occasioned by the publication of Edward O. Wilson's Sociobiology in 1975, to the rise of the use of primate comparisons fueled by Jane Goodall's instant classic, The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior (1986). Wright has some rather serious fun with human sexual behavior as seen from the perspective of evolutionary psychology, but he spends even more time worrying (to no good effect, in my opinion) about altruism and the shaky concept of kin selection. The title is partly ironic, since much of the material suggests that we are something less than "moral." The "Everyday Life" in the title is an allusion to Freud (The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, 1904) who makes a dual appearance in the text, first as a kind of not-yet-illuminated precursor to modern Darwinian thought, and second as the reigning champ of psychology that evolutionary psychology is out to dethrone. (See especially page 314.)What's exciting about evolutionary psychology is that for the first time psychology has a firm scientific foundation upon which to build. But it's a tough subject for some people, I think, mainly because they confuse "is" with "ought." The discoveries of evolutionary psychology about the differing reproductive strategies of the sexes offend some people in the same way that Darwin's insight about our kinship with (other) animals offended the Victorians. Evolutionary psychology shows us that men lie, cheat and hustle relentlessly for sex, while women manipulate available males into caring for their offspring, and if possible for children fathered by other males. Insights like these are seen by some as immoral imperatives, when in fact they are amoral statements of factual observation. What "is" isn't necessarily the same thing as what ought to be. And really, we shouldn't blame the messenger.Where Wright's book especially shows its age is in trying to explain altruism. He wasn't aware of the handicap principle developed by Amotz and Avishag in their exciting book, The Handicap Principle: A Missing Piece of Darwin's Puzzle (1997) which nicely explains "altruism" (it's an advertisement of fitness) and a number of other evolutionary conundrums, including Wright's question on page 390, "Why do soldiers die for their country?" Additionally on pages 68-70, where Wright attempts to account for female cuckoldry, he gives three reasons, but seems uncertain of the most important one, which is that a woman, once established in a secure pair-bond will sometimes seek to upgrade the genetic input by ha

Careful readers benefit from Wright's insights

Wright's work, which continues Dawkins' and Darwin's, makes evolutionary psychology clear and accessible. But like many overviews of branches of science, one needs to appreciate the subtle and counter-intuitive points the author makes to fully understand the author's thesis.Wright clearly states his cultural bias in the final chapter of the book, and makes the case for traditional mores despite their insuitability to our ancestral environment. What we want to do, he points out, is not necessarily what we should do.The bulk of the book explains what we want to do, and to a lesser extent how culture informs our sexual choices. He deliberately avoids in-depth discussion of culture's influence, preferring to explain how morality evolved in our ancestral environment, and how it suits that environment. As a student of evolution should know, suitability to the ancestral environment--i.e., small hunter-gatherer tribal groups--does not easily translate into the modern, urban environment. Wright makes that very clear.Read in conjunction with Dawkins' _Selfish Gene_, this is a must-have part of a complete library.