The Goodness Paradox, Richard Wrangham
The Goodness Paradox, Richard Wrangham
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The Goodness Paradox
The Strange Relationship Between Peace and Violence in Human Evolution

Author: Richard Wrangham

Narrator: Michael Page

Unabridged: 11 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/19/2019

Synopsis

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.

About Richard Wrangham

Richard Wrangham is Ruth B. Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology, Harvard University. He is the author of Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, and Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence (with Dale Peterson). Professor Wrangham is a leader in primate behavioral ecology. He is the recipient of the Rivers Memorial Medal from the Royal Anthropological Institute and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the British Academy.

Reviews

Goodreads review by David on October 20, 2018

The premise of The Goodness Paradox takes some real effort to absorb, let alone accept. It is that Homo sapiens is actually mild mannered and non-violent, pointing to its self-domestication. That any species which can routinely slaughter its own in the millions while also routinely wiping out entire......more

Goodreads review by Ryan on February 06, 2019

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald The human mind is plagued by a host of biases, and one of the most prominent is the “false dilemma” fallacy. This fallacy occu......more

Goodreads review by Brian on October 23, 2023

This is the most interesting, although long-winded, exploration of human violence that I’ve seen. First, Wrangham sets out to explain a paradox, that over the course of history people have grown more cooperative and non-violent toward members of their own communities, but also more prone to massive......more

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