Human Altruism — Proximate Patterns and Evo - lutionary

Are people selfish or altruistic? Throughout history this question has been answered on the basis of much introspection and little evidence. It has been at the heart of many controversial debates in politics, science, and philosophy. Some of the most fundamental questions concerning our evolutionary origins, our social relations, and the organization of society are centered around issues of altruism and selfishness. Experimental evidence indicates that human altruism is a powerful force and unique in the animal world. However, there is much individual heterogeneity and the interaction between altruists and selfish individuals is key for understanding the evolutionary dynamics as well as the proximate patterns of human cooperation. Depending on the environment, a minority of altruists can force a majority of selfish individuals to cooperate or, conversely, a few egoists can induce a large number of altruists to defect. Current gene-based evolutionary theories cannot explain important patterns of human altruism pointing towards the need for theories of cultural evolution and geneculture coevolution. Kin selection and . . . reciprocal altruism . . . are plausible as far as they go but I find that they do not begin to square up to the formidable challenge of explaining cultural evolution and the immense differences between human cultures around the world. . . . I think we have got to start again and go right back to first principles. For an understanding of the evolution of modern man we must begin by throwing out the gene as the sole basis of our ideas on evolution.