8 /10 1 Votes
4.1/5 Barnes & Noble Publication date 1994 OCLC 33496013 ISBN 0-679-76399-6 | 4/5 Goodreads Language English Pages 466 pages (paperback) Originally published 1994 Publisher Vintage Books Country United States of America | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Media type Print (Hardcover and Paperback) Subjects Social evolution, Evolutionary psychology, Morality, Ethics Similar Nonzero: The Logic of Human, The Evolution of God, The Origins of Virtue, The Blank Slate: The Modern D, The Red Queen: Sex and t | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Moral Animal is a 1994 book by Robert Wright, in which Wright explores many aspects of everyday life through evolutionary biology.
Contents
The moral animal virtue vice human nature
Summary
Wright explores many aspects of everyday life through evolutionary biology. He provides Darwinian explanations for human behavior and psychology, social dynamics and structures, as well as people's relationships with lovers, friends, and family.
Wright borrows extensively from Charles Darwin's better-known publications, including On the Origin of Species (1859), but also from his chronicles and personal writings, illustrating behavioral principles with Darwin's own biographical examples.
Reception
The New York Times Book Review chose The Moral Animal as one of the 12 best books of 1994; it was a national bestseller and has been published in 12 languages. Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould criticized the book in The New York Review of Books. Anthropologist Melvin Konner called the book "delightful".