Description
Palgrave Human Nature And Public Policy An Evolutionary Approach 2003 Edition by A. Somit S. Peterson
Arguing for an evolutionary perspective this book directly challenges the Standard Social Science Model (SSSM) on which public policy has often been based. The SSSM maintains that human behavior is solely the product of culture and learning. In sharp contrast the Evolutionary Model (EM) holds that our behavior flows from the interaction between learning and culture on the one hand and biological factors-especially our evolutionary legacy-on the other. These different approaches to human behavior understandably lead to divergent conceptions of sound domestic and foreign policy. The SSSM views human behavior as essentially plastic and thus readily changed by governmental action. Disagreeing the Evolutionary Model sees that malleability as seriously limited by our species' evolved propensity for aggression status seeking xenophobia ethnocentrism and hierarchical social structures. Table of contents : PART I: INTRODUCTION The Standard Social Science Model versus the Evolutionary Model: Implications for Public Policy; A.Somit & S.A.Peterson Reflections on Human Nature and Policy; L.Tiger The Missing Dimension in Public Policy: Knowledge from the Life Sciences; L.K.Caldwell PART II: INTERNATIONAL APPLICATIONS Human Propensities War and Self-Correcting Mechanisms; J.D.Singer Evolutionary Theory the Origins of Ethnic Conflict and State Building; B.Thayer Implications of Legalized Euthanasia in Democracy: The Case of the Netherlands; E.L.F.Falger M.R.Quirine & V.S.E.Falger PART III: DOMESTIC POLICY Evolutionary Theory and Prostitution Laws; M.McGuire & M.Gruter Neuroscience Free Will and Individual Responsibility: Policy Implications; R.Blank Biotechnology Is Very Rapid Evolutionary Progress; H.Caton Explore and Exploit: An Evolutionary Analysis of Institutional Dynamics; P.Zak & A.Denzau Evolutionary Theory and Criminal Justice; L.Ellis Evolution and Political Marketing; G.Saad MacLean's Evolutionary Neuroscience: Some Clinical and Policy Implications; G.A.Cory The Genetics of Altruism and Good Samaritan Laws; J.Strate