Are Cultural and Evolutionary Views of Human Warfare Converging? A Review of War, Peace and Human Nature: The Convergence of Evolutionary and Cultural Views, edited by Douglas P. Fry (Oxford University Press, 2015)

Sarah Mathew

doi:10.21237/c7clio6127980

Abstract

War, Peace and Human Nature: The Convergence of Evolutionary and Cultural Views, edited by Douglas P. Fry, provides a wealth of information on various topics related to human conflict.

Highlights

A Review of War, Peace and Human Nature: The Convergence of Evolutionary and Cultural Views, edited by Douglas P
The book begins with chapters from an ecological and evolutionary perspective that build a foundation for thinking about human conflict based on the selective forces that shape conflict and restraint in other animals
The book does not present a mechanistic framework by which evolutionary and cultural viewpoints can be combined. This is disappointing, especially because over the last two decades, theoretical frameworks such as cultural group selection have been developed that explain how warfare (Turchin 2006; Turchin et al 2013; Turchin 2010; Zefferman and Mathew 2015) as well as other social behaviors in humans (Boyd and Richerson 2010; Richerson et al 2014; Henrich 2004) are shaped by selection operating on societies with different cultural norms

Summary

Introduction

Are Cultural and Evolutionary Views of Human Warfare Converging? A Review of War, Peace and Human Nature: The Convergence of Evolutionary and Cultural Views, edited by Douglas P. Peace and Human Nature: The Convergence of Evolutionary and Cultural Views, edited by Douglas P.

Results

Conclusion