Homo Co-öperativus

by JLS
for the GC

Was Grice joking when he entitled his principle the "cooperative principle"? Certainly not! It's true that a principle is NOT cooperative: people are. But he was intrigued by cooperation for at least one year, when he was lecturing on "Logic and conversation" back in Oxford in 1966. He would use 'helpfulness' instead, but by the latter lectures, he is already using 'cooperation' more or less technically. This is lost in "Logic and Conversation" -- the Harvard lectures -- where he does not really say where he is coming from.

Why do humans, uniquely among animals, cooperate in large numbers to advance projects for the common good?

Contrary to the conventional wisdom in biology and economics, this generous and civic-minded behavior is widespread and cannot be explained simply by far-sighted self-interest or a desire to help close genealogical kin.

In "A Cooperative Species," Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis -- pioneers in the new experimental and evolutionary science of human behavior -- show that the central issue is not why selfish people act generously, but instead how genetic and cultural evolution has produced a species in which substantial numbers make sacrifices to uphold ethical norms and to help even total strangers.

The authors describe how, for thousands of generations, cooperation with fellow group members has been essential to survival.

Groups that created institutions to protect the civic-minded from exploitation by the selfish flourished and prevailed in conflicts with less cooperative groups.

Key to this process was the evolution of social emotions such as shame and guilt, and our capacity to internalize social norms so that acting ethically became a personal goal rather than simply a prudent way to avoid punishment.

Using experimental, archaeological, genetic, and ethnographic data to calibrate models of the coevolution of genes and culture as well as prehistoric warfare and other forms of group competition, "A Cooperative Species" provides a compelling and novel account of how humans came to be moral and cooperative.

In "A Cooperative Species", Bowles and Gintis draw on their own research and teaching about understanding the complex human being in the context of diverse ways of organizing life.

They show that humans can evolve cooperative strategies when they participate in groups that share long-term similar norms and are willing to sanction those that do not follow group agreements. An important book for all social scientists."
--Elinor Ostrom, Nobel Laureate in Economics

"Why we form cooperative societies is not hard to understand given all of the advantages we derive, but how we do it is far less understood. Humans have powerful selfish tendencies, but Bowles and Gintis are not of the school of thought that everything can be reduced to selfishness. They muster all of their expert knowledge to make clear that evolution has produced a species with a truly cooperative spirit and the means to encourage cooperation in others."
--Frans de Waal, author of The Age of Empathy

""A Cooperative Species" is an important book by two masters in their field.

It deals with a topic that is of great contemporary interest and presents, clearly and logically, a wealth of up-to-date material from a wide range of disciplines."
--R. E. Rowthorn, professor emeritus, University of Cambridge

"This is an outstanding book. Drawing from the state of knowledge across several behavioral disciplines, it will be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the theoretical and empirical aspects of the evolution of cooperation."
--Simon Gächter, University of Nottingham

Samuel Bowles heads the Behavioral Sciences Program at the Santa Fe Institute and teaches economics at the University of Siena. Herbert Gintis holds faculty positions at the Santa Fe Institute, Central European University, and the University of Siena.

The authors' recent research has appeared in "Science, Nature, American Economic Review, Journal of Theoretical Biology, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and Current Anthropology".