Intro -- Series Foreword -- Preface -- I Introduction -- 1 Moral Sentiments and Material Interests: Origins, Evidence, and Consequences -- II The Behavioral Ecology of Cooperation -- 2 The Evolution of Cooperation in Primate Groups -- 3 The Natural History of Human Food Sharing and Cooperation:...

Some philosophers and social scientists have stressed the importance for good government of an altruistic citizenry that values the well being of one another. Others have emphasized the need for incentives that induce even the self interested to contribute to the public good. Implicitly most...

Main description: Why do humans, uniquely among animals, cooperate in large numbers to advance projects for the common good? Contrary to the conventional wisdom in biology and economics, this generous and civic-minded behavior is widespread and cannot be explained simply by far-sighted...