Cooperation and its evolution /

This coedited volume on the evolution of cooperation brings together a diverse set of chapters on a wide range of research tools ranging from empirical surveys and formal theorizing to conceptual modeling and seasoned speculation, all of which explore various themes and mechanisms. The book, part of the series "Life and Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology," is divided into two parts. First, the contributors address a set of ideas that connect cooperation in societies with the conditions that make cooperation profitable and stable. They then examine "how proximate mechanisms emerge and operate in the evolutionary process and how they shape evolutionary trajectories." Given the work's organization and content, the editors emphasize five themes that contribute to the centrality of cooperation to evolutionary biology. These include "the generation and division of profit," "transitions in individuality," "levels of selection," "externalism and beyond," and "humans as a model system." In sum, these themes represent the extent to which questions surrounding cooperation are widespread in evolutionary biology and thus allow for broad theoretical and empirical approaches from varied disciplinary perspectives. A thorough, thought-provoking anthology on an emerging evolutionary topic with implications for understanding human behavior. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers/faculty, and professionals. R. A. Delgado Jr. University of Southern California