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Evil in Joint Action: The Ethics of Hate and the Sociology of Original Sin
by Hans Bernhard SchmidJoining insights from social science and philosophy, this book offers a nuanced view on the discourse of evil, which has been on the rise in the West in recent years. Exploring the famous ‘Pear Theft’ episode in St Augustine’s Confessions, it looks beyond the theological implications of the event to focus instead on the secular insights that it offers when the event is placed in the context of social thought. With attention to Augustine’s lengthy reflections on a seemingly marginal episode, the author contends that it is possible to discern the elements of a convincing account of intentional evil action, the Pear Theft representing a case of joint radical improvisation that lacks collective deliberation. As such, a new perspective emerges on familiar and more intuitive forms of evil in joint action that involve group identification and institutional action. Evil in Joint Action will appeal to scholars of sociology, social theory and philosophy with interests in ethics, collective action and concepts of evil.
Evil in the Modern World: International and Interdisciplinary Perspectives
by Laura Dryjanska Giorgio PacificiThis interesting volume focuses on a set of phenomena which increasingly alarm the political world and public opinion: from the more obvious ones like torture, disease, human trafficking, abuse, genocide, displacement, to more subtle forms found in sports, technology and law. It looks at how and why these phenomena are universally condemned, and could be considered to threaten the very foundations of modern democracy; yet continue to be tolerated. The volume therefore goes beyond what Hannah Arendt has called the "banality of evil" and discusses the presence of condemned and heinous practices in society as fluid and chaotic but as non-trivial; capable of great transmutations through various epochs. Practices and actions considered as "evil" manifest in situations where individuals or groups hold power or seize power, and the contributions in this volume explore the close relation between power and evil. The volume draws upon sociology, psychology, cultural studies, political science, as well as philosophy, theology, anthropology, and neurology of the individual and of the group to provide a comprehensive understanding of the multiple facets of evil in the contemporary world.
Evil: The Science Behind Humanity's Dark Side
by Julia ShawAn expert in criminology and psychology uses science to understand evil in today’s society.What is it about evil that we find so compelling? From our obsession with serial killers to violence in pop culture, we seem inescapably drawn to the stories of monstrous acts and the aberrant people who commit them. But evil, Dr. Julia Shaw argues, is largely subjective. What one may consider normal, like sex before marriage, eating meat, or working on Wall Street, others find abhorrent. And if evil is only in the eye of the beholder, can it be said to exist at all? In Evil, Shaw uses an engrossing mix of science, popular culture, and real-life examples to break down timely and provocative issues. How similar is your brain to a psychopath’s? How many people have murder fantasies? Can artificial intelligence be evil? Do your sexual proclivities make you a bad person? Who becomes a terrorist? If you could travel back in time, would you kill baby Hitler? In asking these questions, Shaw urges readers to discover empathy and to rethink and reshape what it means to be bad. Evil is a wide-ranging exploration into a fascinating, darkly compelling subject from wickedly smart and talented writer.Praise for Evil“A brilliant panorama that elucidates humanity’s dark side. . . . This science-based foundation for studying the minds of sadists, mass murderers, freaks and creeps, as well the new role of tech in promoting evil is presented in a totally engaging fashion.” —Philip Zimbardo, PhD; Professor Emeritus, Stanford University; author of The Lucifer Effect“This overview of various kinds of aberrant behavior grouped under the umbrella term evil is well backed up by the expertise of Shaw. . . . Shaw’s work will be particularly appropriate for college and high school libraries for its sober-minded, academically rigorous examination of an oft-sensationalized subject.” —Publishers Weekly“Capably written with a smooth mix of scientific insight and theoretical thought, the book will hopefully inspire empathy and understanding rather than hysteria and condemnation. A consistently fascinating journey into the darker sides of the human condition that will push on the boundaries of readers’ comfort zones.” —Kirkus Reviews
Evolution 2.0
by Friedel Weinert Martin BrinkworthThese essays by leading philosophers and scientists focus on recent ideas at the forefront of modern Darwinism, showcasing and exploring the challenges they raise as well as open problems. This interdisciplinary volume is unique in that it addresses the key notions of evolutionary theory in approaches to the mind, in the philosophy of biology, in the social sciences and humanities; furthermore it considers recent challenges to, and extensions of, Neo-Darwinism. The essays demonstrate that Darwinism is an evolving paradigm, with a sphere of influence far greater than even Darwin is likely to have imagined when he published 'On the Origin of Species' in 1859.
Evolution De La Biosphere Et E
by Francis LethiersThe evolution of the living world has not been straightforward process over geological time. On the contrary, it shows episodes of crises separating phases of evolving radiation. This work, presenting an assessment of the paleontological discoveries of the last fifteen years, could be summed up by the formula "the evolution of life on our planet or biodiversity". This book, which combines clarity of presentation with scientific rigor, will be of interest to biologists and geologists as well as teachers, students and all those wishing to extend their knowledge on the subject.
Evolution Education in the American South
by Christopher D. Lynn Amanda L. Glaze William A. Evans Laura K. ReedThis volume reaches beyond the controversy surrounding the teaching and learning of evolution in the United States, specifically in regard to the culture, politics, and beliefs found in the Southeast. The editors argue that despite a deep history of conflict in the region surrounding evolution, there is a wealth of evolution research taking place--from biodiversity in species to cultural evolution and human development. In fact, scientists, educators, and researchers from around the United States have found their niche in the South, where biodiversity is high, culture runs deep, and the pace is just a little bit slower.
Evolution Of A Group: Student Video And Workbook
by Gerald Corey Marianne Schneider Corey Robert Haynes Julie Martinez Caroline ConcillaIn this exciting video with accompanying workbook, students will see Jerry and Marianne Corey in action as they demonstrate their integrative approach to group work. <P><P>As the 90 minutes of video unfold, viewers will see the group move through its various stages and will observe as group members discuss real issues and present reactions in the group context. <P><P>The accompanying student workbook provides exercises and explorations that link the video to the Coreys' best-selling group books: GROUPS: PROCESS AND PRACTICE, GROUP TECHNIQUES, and THEORY AND PRACTICE OF GROUP COUNSELING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY.
Evolution Versus Revolution: The Paradoxes of Social Change
by Melvyn L. FeinRevolutionary and evolutionary theorists have very different views about change; Fein writes in favour of evolution. He proposes an integrated model of social evolution, one that accounts for the complexity, inconclusiveness, and impediments that characterize social transformations.This multi-dimensional approach recognizes that change is always saturated in conflict. Major changes are rarely initiated by conscious decisions that are automatically implemented; power and morality generally control the direction that significant alterations take. Fein explains how the social generalist dilemma places our need for both flexibility and stability in opposition to each other such that non-rational mechanisms are needed to produce a solution. He also describes how an "inverse force rule" dictates that small societies are bound together by strong social forces, whereas large ones are secured by weak forces. This suggests that social roles are likely to become professionalized over time.If social change is, in fact, analogous to natural rather than artificial selection, we may be in the midst of an only partially predictable middle class revolution. Indeed, the current impasse between liberals and conservatives may be evidence that we are in the consolidation phase of this process. Should this be the case, a paradigm shift, not a classical revolution, is in our future.
Evolution and Behavior
by Lance Workman Will ReaderThe relationship between how we evolved and how we behave is a controversial and fascinating field of study. From how we choose a mate to how we socialize with other people, the evolutionary process has an enduring legacy on the way we view the world. Evolution and Behavior provides students with a thorough and accessible introduction to this growing discipline. Placing evolutionary psychology in context with the core areas of psychology – developmental, cognitive and social – the book explores some of the most fundamental questions we can ask about ourselves. Taking students through the principles of natural selection, it provides a nuanced understanding of key topics such as: cognitive development and the role of intelligence, memory, emotions and perception, mental health and abnormal psychology, sexual reproduction and family relationships, the development of culture. Addressing a number of controversial debates in the field, each chapter also includes concept boxes, the definition of key terms, chapter summaries and further reading. This is the ideal introductory textbook for anyone interested in evolutionary psychology. It will provide not only an essential overview of this emerging field, but also deepen readers’ appreciation of the core tenets of psychology as a whole.
Evolution and Gender: Why It Matters for Contemporary Life
by Rosemary L. HopcroftOffering new research and analysis on the relation between gender and evolution, this book explains conflict between the sexes and the frequent emergence and stubborn continuation of patriarchal regimes that serve to control the behavior of women in societies around the world, both past and present. Women and men are different, on average. But that does not mean they are unequal. Indeed, understanding average differences is key to the full realization of equality in health care and other dimensions of social life. Hopcroft shows that gender differences in physiology, psychology, and behavior can be traced to slight differences in evolved traits between men and women. These differences exist because of sex differences in investment in offspring, which meant that, in the environment of evolution, some adaptive problems were more important for men to solve than for women, and vice versa. For men, the most important adaptive problem to solve was that of finding a mate. Men who did not solve this problem are not our ancestors. For women, the most important adaptive problem to solve was that of successfully bearing and raising children. Women who did not solve this problem are not our ancestors. These small differences underlie all the differences described in the book, including sex differences in mate preferences, physiology, cognition, aggression, status striving, and emotional experience. It can also help explain the differential treatment of children by parents, the differential success of boys and girls in modern schools, and sex differences in style of communication.
Evolution and Social Psychology (Frontiers of Social Psychology)
by Douglas T. Kenrick Jeffry A. Simpson Mark SchallerWhy do we think about and interact with other people in the particular ways that we do? Might these thoughts and actions be contemporary products of our long-ago evolutionary past? If so, how might this be, and what are the implications? Research generated by an evolutionary approach to social psychology issues profound insights into self-concept, impression formation, prejudice, group dynamics, helping, aggression, social influence, culture, and every other topic that is fundamental to social psychology. Evolution and Social Psychology is the first book to review and discuss this broad range of social psychological phenomena from an evolutionary perspective. It does so with a critical and constructive eye. Readers will emerge with a clear sense of the intellectual challenges, as well as the scientific benefits, of an evolutionarily-informed social psychology. The world-renowned contributors identify new questions, new theories, and new hypotheses—many of which are only now beginning to be tested. Thus, this book not only summarizes the current status of the field, it also sets an agenda for the next generation of research on evolution and social psychology. Evolution and Social Psychology is essential reading for evolutionary psychologists and social psychologists alike.
Evolution and Society: A Study in Victorian Social Theory
by J. W. BurrowIn this 1966 text Dr Burrow investigates the reasons why Victorian pioneers of social science were habitually approaching the study of other societies with largely positivistic and evolutionary methodologies. As a result of this, anthropology appeared to be seeking affirmation of assumed laws and stages of progress, rather than looking to appreciate and understand other societies in terms of their own uniqueness and functionality. Here, the author not only studies Victorian thought on evolution in general, but also seeks to contextualise those ideas which are often classified as exclusively Darwinist within the studies and writings of other leading figures in Victorian science and social science, whose works often predate The Origin of the Species. His book also makes an incredibly important contribution to the ways in which ideas on evolution and society operated within the framework of general Victorian thought and assumption.
Evolution and Victorian Culture
by Bernard Lightman Bennett ZonIn this collection of essays from leading scholars, the dynamic interplay between evolution and Victorian culture is explored for the first time, mapping new relationships between the arts and sciences. Rather than focusing simply on evolution and literature or art, this volume brings together essays exploring the impact of evolutionary ideas on a wide range of cultural activities including painting, sculpture, dance, music, fiction, poetry, cinema, architecture, theatre, photography, museums, exhibitions and popular culture. Broad-ranging, rather than narrowly specialized, each chapter provides a brief introduction to key scholarship, a central section exploring original insights drawn from primary source material, and a conclusion offering overarching principles and a projection towards further areas of research. Each chapter covers the work of significant individuals and groups applying evolutionary theory to their particular art, both as theorists and practitioners. This comprehensive examination of topics sheds light on larger and previously unknown Victorian cultural patterns.
Evolution and the Naked Truth: Darwinian Approach to Philosophy (Routledge Revivals)
by Gonzalo MunevarPublished in 1998, the main aim of this book is to use a naturalistic, evolutionary approach to solve some of the most important problems in philosophy. The first two problems come from the philosophy of science: the problem of rationality of science and the problem of truth in science. In presenting the first problem, the author argues that the views of Kuhn and Feyerabend do create a very serious challenge to traditional epistemology, however, if the assumption of individual rationality is abandoned in favour of the author's social concept of rationality, a committed naturalism can account for science as a rational activity. In tackling the second problem of truth, the author shows that a committed evolutionary philosophy does not support realism but leads instead to a thorough evolutionary relativism of scientific knowledge. It is nevertheless possible to use this evolutionary relativism to construct a theory of relative truth. The issue of whether science discovers truth has also been tied to absolutism, that a well formulated theory of relative truth is likely to bring about a profound transformation of the way we think about the field. The author explores the notion of relative truth in the philosophy of science, ethics and aesthetics.
Evolution and the Social Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and Social Cognition (Sydney Symposium of Social Psychology)
by William Von Hippel Joseph P. Forgas Martie G. HaseltonThis book seeks to combine the study of human social cognition - the way we think, decide, plan and analyze social situations - with an evolutionary framework that considers these activities in light of evolutionary adaptations for solving problems of survival faced by our ancestors over thousands of generations. The chapters report recent research and theories illustrating how evolutionary principles can shed new light on the subtle and often subconscious ways that cognitive mechanisms guide peoples’ thoughts, memories, judgments, attitudes and behaviors in social life. The contributors to this volume, who are leading researchers in their fields, seek answers to such intriguing questions as: how can evolutionary principles help to explain human beliefs, attitudes, judgments, prejudice, and group preferences? Are there benefits to behaving unpredictably? Why are prototypical faces more attractive than atypical ones? How do men and women think about, and select potential mates? What are the adaptive functions of negative affect? What are the evolutionary influences on the way people think about and respond to social exclusion and ostracism? Evolution and the Social Mind offers a highly integrated and representative coverage of this emerging field, and is suitable as a textbook in advanced courses dealing with social cognition and evolutionary psychology.
Evolution of Digitized Societies Through Advanced Technologies (Advanced Technologies and Societal Change)
by Arindam Biswas T. P. Singh Amitava Choudhury Mrinal AnandThis book provides an understanding of the evolution of digitization in our day to day life and how it has become a part of our social system. The obvious challenges faced during this process and how these challenges were overcome have been discussed. The discussions revolve around the solutions to these challenges by leveraging the use of various advanced technologies. The book mainly covers the use of these technologies in variety of areas such as smart cities, healthcare informatics, transportation automation, digital transformation of education. The book intends to be treated as a source to provide the systematic discussion to the bouquet of areas that are essential part of digitized societies. In light of this, the book accommodates theoretical, methodological, well-established, and validated empirical work dealing with various related topics.
Evolution of Management in a Post-Pandemic World: The Chameleon Paradigm (Routledge Studies in Management, Organizations and Society)
by Agnieszka RzepkaDeveloped by Agnieszka Rzepka, the Chameleon Paradigm is the culmination of twenty years of global research which identifies critical factors essential for organizational success in a volatile marketplace. The Paradigm provides a roadmap for organizations, addressing key elements necessary for thriving in a 5.0 reality. With market trends pushing companies towards sustainable, human-centric industries, the book argues that organizations should function as living organisms, where one failing component can disrupt the whole system.Rzepka’s framework combines nine interdependent elements—leadership, innovation, relationships, culture, agility, capital, competence, knowledge, and strategy. The Chameleon Paradigm emphasizes the evolution in management models, shifting societal consciousness, and new workforce dynamics. The book analyzes companies that successfully navigated the pandemic’s challenges, offering a model for resilient and innovative organizations. The book highlights discrepancies between recommended and actual practices in contemporary business and draws a conclusion that effective 21st-century leadership requires agility, proactive behavior, and a growth-focused approach. The accompanying verification tool allows organizations to assess their alignment with the paradigm and identify areas for improvement.The monograph offers key management models and practical recommendations that can be implemented by managers and SMEs and will be of interest to researchers, academics, professionals, and students in the fields of organizational studies, leadership, management, and innovation. By applying Rzepka’s model, managers can design, build, and operate innovative and resilient local and global organizations.
Evolution of New Working Spaces: Changing Nature and Geographies (SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology)
by Ilaria Mariotti Grzegorz Micek Elisabete Tomaz Carles Méndez-OrtegaThis open access book provides multidisciplinary perspectives on the changing dynamics of new working spaces, with insights from various European countries and observing critical theoretical approaches. Divided into two main parts, the first part focuses on the different typologies of new working spaces, identifying the changing nature of these spaces and associated concepts, taxonomies, and specific approaches to this phenomenon. The second part analyzes the location of new working spaces, examining its recent evolution and identifying new factors and geographies, offering an additional empirical analysis of different European realities. The research included in this book contributes to the current discussion of new forms and geographies of work and their impact on the territories and related policies.
Evolution of Social Networks
by Patrick Doreian Frans N. StokmanThis book answers the question of whether we can apply evolutionary theories to our understanding of the development of social structures. Social networks have increasingly become the focus of many social scientists as a way of analyzing these social structures. While many powerful network analytic tools have been developed and applied to a wide range of empirical phenomena, understanding the evolution of social organization still requires theories and analyses of social network evolutionary processes. Researchers from a variety of disciplines have combined their efforts in what is an indication of some very promising future research and the work represented in this volume provides a basis for a sustained analysis of the evolution of social life.
Evolution of a Movement: Four Decades of California Environmental Justice Activism
by Tracy E. PerkinsDespite living and working in California, one of the county's most environmentally progressive states, environmental justice activists have spent decades fighting for clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and safe, healthy communities. Evolution of a Movement tells their story—from the often-raucous protests of the 1980s and 1990s to activists' growing presence inside the halls of the state capitol in the 2000s and 2010s. Tracy E. Perkins traces how shifting political contexts combined with activists' own efforts to institutionalize their work within nonprofits and state structures. By revealing these struggles and transformations, Perkins offers a new lens for understanding environmental justice activism in California. Drawing on case studies and 125 interviews with activists from Sacramento to the California-Mexico border, Perkins explores the successes and failures of the environmental justice movement in California. She shows why some activists have moved away from the disruptive "outsider" political tactics common in the movement's early days and embraced traditional political channels of policy advocacy, electoral politics, and working from within the state's political system to enact change. Although some see these changes as a sign of the growing sophistication of the environmental justice movement, others point to the potential of such changes to blunt grassroots power. At a time when environmental justice scholars and activists face pressing questions about the best route for effecting meaningful change, this book provides insight into the strengths and limitations of social movement institutionalization.
Evolution, Culture, and the Human Mind
by Mark SchallerAn enormous amount of scientific research compels two fundamental conclusions about the human mind: The mind is the product of evolution; and the mind is shaped by culture. These two perspectives on the human mind are not incompatible, but, until recently, their compatibility has resisted rigorous scholarly inquiry. Evolutionary psychology documents many ways in which genetic adaptations govern the operations of the human mind. But evolutionary inquiries only occasionally grapple seriously with questions about human culture and cross-cultural differences. By contrast, cultural psychology documents many ways in which thought and behavior are shaped by different cultural experiences. But cultural inquires rarely consider evolutionary processes. Even after decades of intensive research, these two perspectives on human psychology have remained largely divorced from each other. But that is now changing - and that is what this book is about. Evolution, Culture, and the Human Mind is the first scholarly book to integrate evolutionary and cultural perspectives on human psychology. The contributors include world-renowned evolutionary, cultural, social, and cognitive psychologists. These chapters reveal many novel insights linking human evolution to both human cognition and human culture – including the evolutionary origins of cross-cultural differences. The result is a stimulating introduction to an emerging integrative perspective on human nature.
Evolution, Games, and God
by Sarah Coakley Martin A. NowakEvolution, Games, and God explores how cooperation and altruism, alongside mutation and natural selection, play a critical role in evolution, from microbes to human societies. Inheriting a tendency to cooperate and self-sacrifice on behalf of others may be as beneficial to a population’s survival as the self-preserving instincts of individuals.
Evolution, Human Behaviour and Morality: The Legacy of Westermarck (Philosophy and Method in the Social Sciences)
by Olli Lagerspetz Jan Antfolk Ylva Gustafsson Camilla KronqvistThis book highlights the recent re-emergence of Edward Westermarck's work in modern approaches to morality and altruism, examining his importance as one of the founding fathers of anthropology and as a moral relativist, who identified our moral feelings with biologically-evolved retributive emotions. Questioning the extent to which current debates on the relationship between biology and morality are similar to those in which Westermarck himself was involved, the authors ask what can be learnt from his arguments and from the criticism that he encountered. Drawing on Westermarck's manuscripts and papers as well as his published work, the authors show the importance of situating debates, whether modern or classical, in their correct methodological and philosophical context. This volume is a rigorous assessment of the ways in which morality is connected with human biological nature. It plays close attention to the development of debates in this field and will appeal to scholars of sociology, anthropology and philosophy.
Evolution, Human Behaviour and Morality: The Legacy of Westermarck (Philosophy and Method in the Social Sciences)
by Olli Lagerspetz Jan Antfolk Ylva Gustafsson Camilla KronqvistThis book highlights the recent re-emergence of Edward Westermarck's work in modern approaches to morality and altruism, examining his importance as one of the founding fathers of anthropology and as a moral relativist, who identified our moral feelings with biologically-evolved retributive emotions.Questioning the extent to which current debates on the relationship between biology and morality are similar to those in which Westermarck himself was involved, the authors ask what can be learnt from his arguments and from the criticism that he encountered. Drawing on Westermarck's manuscripts and papers as well as his published work, the authors show the importance of situating debates, whether modern or classical, in their correct methodological and philosophical context.This volume is a rigorous assessment of the ways in which morality is connected with human biological nature. It plays close attention to the development of debates in this field and will appeal to scholars of sociology, anthropology and philosophy.
Evolutionary History of the Robust Australopithecines
by Frederick E. GrineIn paleoanthropology the group of hominids known as the "robust" australopithecines has emerged as one of the most interesting. Through them we have the opportunity to examine the origin, natural history, and ultimate extinction of not just a single species, but of an entire branch in the hominid fossil record. It is generally agreed that the human lineage can be traced back to this group of comparatively small-brained, large-toothed creatures. This volume focuses on the evolutionary history of these early hominids with state-of-the-art contributions by leading international authorities in the field. Although a case can be made for a "robust" lineage, the functional and taxonomic implications of the morphological features are subject to vigorous disagreement. An area of lively debate is the possible causal relationship between the presence of early Homo and the origin, evolution, and virtual extinction of "robust" australopithecines.This volume summarizes what has been learned about the evolutionary history of the "robust" australopithecines in the 50 years since Robert Broom first encountered the visage of a new kind of ape-man from Kromdraai. New discoveries from Kromdraai to Lomekwi have served to keep us aware that the paleontological record for hominid evolution is hardly exhausted. Because of such finds no single volume can hope to stand as a summary on the "robust" australopithecines for very long, but this classic volume comes close to achieving this goal. The book sheds new light upon some old questions and also acts to provide new questions. The answers to those questions bring us closer to a fuller understanding and appreciation of the origins, evolution, and ultimate demise of the "robust" australopithecines. Since the "robust" australopithecines most likely stand as our closest relatives, a better understanding of their origin, history, and demise serves to provide heightened appreciation of the course of human evolution itself. This definitive volume addresses the questions and problems surrounding this important lineage.