The Goodness Paradox
The Strange Relationship Between Peace and Violence in Human Evolution
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The Goodness Paradox
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Narrated by:
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Michael Page
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Written by:
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Richard Wrangham
About this listen
Throughout history, even as daily life has exhibited calm and tolerance, war has never been far away, and even within societies, violence can be a threat. The Goodness Paradox gives a new and powerful argument for how and why this uncanny combination of peacefulness and violence crystallized after our ancestors acquired language in Africa a quarter of a million years ago.
Words allowed the sharing of intentions that enabled men effectively to coordinate their actions. Verbal conspiracies paved the way for planned conflicts and, most importantly, for the uniquely human act of capital punishment. The victims of capital punishment tended to be aggressive men, and as their genes waned, our ancestors became tamer. This ancient form of systemic violence was critical not only encouraging cooperation in peace and war and in culture but also for making us who we are: Homo sapiens.
©2019 Richard Wrangham (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded BooksWhat listeners say about The Goodness Paradox
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Daniel Buchfink
- 2019-09-11
Beyond Good and Evil
A wonderfully informative and interesting history of the study of primate and mammal morality.
I do think that there are a couple of contradictions, the author mentions 'Aristotles Mistake' but doesn't refute his mistake, indeed rather leaves the door open for it by the mere fact that human domestication is not some finished process. Our evolution continues.
I do agree that group selection likely is not needed to explain human altruism. There are likely many kinda of behaviours that are caused by similar mutations, during peaceful times altruism is a method of ascending dominance hierarchies and a means of possibly passing down genes even though it is counter adaptive in other scenarios. The selectors are not random but they do change with context over time and so we seem to get this remarkably complex tapestry of human behaviour.
It is appropriate to think of altruism as being adaptive not as it's good for the group but as it is good for individuals in certain contextual scenarios/environments.
Excellent book, highly recommend it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mark
- 2021-08-27
Interesting perspective
Worth a listen if you're into this genre. At times it feels like it's stretching a bit to fit the domestication thesis, but overall it's convincing enough and certain ideas presented are very sound, and helped connect the dots among other evolutionary literature I've read. Some of the early sections on animal breeding felt tedious but the book really picks up after that. Overall an enjoyable and thought provoking read for the time investment.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Thom Tisher
- 2022-07-31
Learning from Apes
I find it fascinating that we can learn rudimentary or fundamental drivers for our complex humanity from animals that are considerably less sophisticated than we are. They give us insight into why we do what we do.
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