The Kindness of Strangers
How a Selfish Ape Invented a New Moral Code
Published on 21. July 2020
368 pages
978-1-5416-1752-0 (ISBN)
Description
"A fine achievement."--Peter Singer, author of The Life You Can Save and The Most Good You Can Do
A sweeping psychological history of human goodness -- from the foundations of evolution to the modern political and social challenges humanity is now facing.
How did humans, a species of self-centered apes, come to care about others? Since Darwin, scientists have tried to answer this question using evolutionary theory. In The Kindness of Strangers, psychologist Michael E. McCullough shows why they have failed and offers a new explanation instead. From the moment nomadic humans first settled down until the aftermath of the Second World War, our species has confronted repeated crises that we could only survive by changing our behavior. As McCullough argues, these choices weren't enabled by an evolved moral sense, but with moral invention -- driven not by evolution's dictates but by reason.
Today's challenges -- climate change, mass migration, nationalism -- are some of humanity's greatest yet. In revealing how past crises shaped the foundations of human concern, The Kindness of Strangers offers clues for how we can adapt our moral thinking to survive these challenges as well.
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07/2020
Basic Civitas Books
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Person
Michael McCullough is a professor of psychology at the University of California, San Diego. The winner of numerous distinctions for his research and writing, he is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. He lives in La Jolla, California.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Table of Contents
- Dedication
- Chapter 1: A Golden Age of Compassion
- Chapter 2: Adam Smith's Little Finger
- Chapter 3: Evolution's Gravity
- Chapter 4: It's All Relative
- Chapter 5: For the Love of Spock
- Chapter 6: The Big Payback
- Chapter 7: The Age of Orphans
- Chapter 8: The Age of Compassion
- Chapter 9: The Age of Prevention
- Chapter 10: The First Poverty Enlightenment
- Chapter 11: The Humanitarian Big Bang
- Chapter 12: The Second Poverty Enlightenment
- Chapter 13: The Age of Impact
- Chapter 14: Good Reasons
- Acknowledgments
- Discover More
- About the Author
- References
- Notes
