Human Success: Evolutionary Origins and Ethical Implications examines human success from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, with contributions from leading paleobiologists, anthropologists, geologists, philosophers of science, and ethicists. It considers how the human species grew in success-linked metrics, such as population size and geographical range, and how it came to dominate ecological systems across the globe. It probes whether the consequences of that dominance, such as human-driven climate change and the destruction of biodiversity, mandate a rethinking of the meaning of human success. The essays in this book urge us to reflect on what has led to our apparent evolutionary success―and, most importantly, what this success implies for the future of our species.
Author(s): Hugh Desmond, Grant Ramsey
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 341
City: New York
Cover
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Copyright
Contents
List of Contributors
1. Introduction: The Manifold Challenges to Understanding Human Success
2. Evolutionary Success: Standards of Value
3. Human Success as a Complex of Autonomy, Adaptation, and Niche Construction
4. Human Success: A Contextual and Pluralistic View
5. The Origin and Evolution of Human Uniqueness
6. Wanderlust: A View from Deep Time of Dispersal, Persistence, and Human Success
7. Culture as a Life History Character: The Cognitive Continuum in Primates and Hominins
8. A Gene-Culture Coevolutionary Perspective on Human Success
9. Anthropocene Patterns in Stratigraphy as a Perspective on Human Success
10. Utter Success and Extensive Inequity: Assessing Processes, Patterns, and Outcomes of the Human Niche in the Anthropocene
11. Adaptability and the Continuation of Human Origins
12. Evolving Measures of Moral Success
13. Future Human Success: Beyond Techno-Libertarianism
Index
