Contract Ethics: Evolutionary Biology and the Moral Sentiments (Studies in Social, Political and Legal Philosophy) - Hardcover

lively trip through the major recent theories of morality, linking them in a most insightful way to advances in biological thought about social behavior. deserves a wide audience, -- Michael Ruse, University of Guelph DIS .40 This is a clear set of essays and arguments for advanced and undergraduate and graduate courses in ethics. CHOICE

Recent theorists have suggested that human altruism toward non-family members evolved because of the tremendous benefits of reciprocity. Developing further the notion that evolutionary theory can help to explain moral sentiments, Howard Kahane proposes that a sense of fair play is essential to ethics and argues that moral obligation, too narrowly construed, prevents us from living rationally. He brings his account of fair play to bear on the ethics of various domains of social life including friendship, taxes, civil rights, and nation states.