Ugo Pagano (Siena): Love, War and Cultures: An Institutional Approach to Human Evolution. Accepting our status as a particular, highly reflective species of animal may be an entry point to understanding the ripples of natural patterns that define our many cultures’ proclivities to compete and cooperate. Robert Kurzban on evolutionary explanations for altruism and morality: Some key distinctions. Biology for Liberals: Ruy Teixeira reviews A Cooperative Species: Human Reciprocity and Its Evolution by Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis. Paul Seabright on evolution and human cooperation: Think of Darwinian natural selection and you may think of selfish or competitive behaviour, but this is far from the whole story. Clash of Paradigms: David Sloan Wilson on why proponents of multilevel selection theory and inclusive fitness theory sometimes (but not always) misunderstand each other. Why are we so clever? In evolutionary terms this isn't obvious: evolution tends to favour cheap solutions and the human brain is expensive. Julian Savulescu and Ingmar Persson argue that artificial moral enhancement is now essential if humanity is to avoid catastrophe.
