This View of Life
Magazine

Wrangham's new book on the evolution of cooperation gets many things right. But he errs in thinking that he can develop his thesis without invoking group selection.

Models of ancestral environments are hard to construct and as a result such hypotheses are plagued with speculation. Where can we draw the evidence from?

The controversy over group selection that emerged in the 1960’s seemed as if one theory could be rejected in favor of another, but it was really more like monolingual people declaring each other to be confusing and wrong.

Unlike the industry leaders Adam Smith wrote about, when leaders of the gun industry pursue their “own interest” it does not promote the “interests of society.” It is harming society.

New research suggests there may have been Darwinian mechanisms behind the evolution of witch-hunting phenomena.

To better understand extremism, we need to look not only at the evils perpetrated but also at the admirable aspects of ourselves.

The theory of major transitions provides an all-encompassing framework to explore both the opportunities and challenges facing humanity in the Internet Age.

Signaling territoriality of home-playing athletes might contribute to the home advantage.

Social constructivism is on trial for being an academic fraud. Can it be rescued and does it have valid points to make about science after all?

Subrena Smith recently argued that “evolutionary psychology, as it is currently understood, is…impossible."

Ever since Darwin drew upon Thomas Malthus and Adam Smith, economic and evolutionary theory have been entwined throughout their histories. Yet modern macroeconomic theory has yet to incorporate developments in evolutionary theory during the last few decades.