Full Description
When, why, and how did we, humans, develop our distinctive and paradoxical inclination for both war and peace? This groundbreaking book investigates that central question by drawing on cutting-edge research and an unprecedented range of evidence from thirteen disciplines - including biology, primatology, comparative ethology, behavioural ecology, anthropology, archaeology, criminology, social psychology, linguistics, demography, genetics, neurosciences, and climatology. The book shows how the capacities for both war and peace co-evolved gradually over millions of years through a mosaic-like pattern, with distinct but interacting components emerging at different moments and becoming integrated over evolutionary time. This deep-rooted trajectory has been shaped by feedback loops between biological, cultural, and environmental forces. With its expansive temporal horizon, cross-species comparisons, and empirical richness, this book offers a sweeping new account - and an indispensable resource - for anyone interested in the origins of the Janus-faced inclination for both war and peace in the human species.
Contents
Acknowledgements; Introduction: the quest for the origins of war and peace; 1. Nature and nurture: how biology, culture and climate shape war and peace; 2. Across the animal kingdom: why and how to compare species; 3. Chimpanzees and bonobos: conflict and cooperation in the wild; 4. Nomads of war and peace I: the archaeology of hunter-gatherers; 5. Nomads of war and peace II: the ethnography of hunter-gatherers; 6. The last common ancestor and beyond: ancestral traits and hominin innovations; 7. Janus-faced: unravelling the co-evolution of war and peace; 8. Feedback loops: the effects of climate change and language evolution on war and peace; Conclusion: war and peace from the origins to civilisation; Appendix: intergroup lethal conflict and cooperative hunting across species; Index.
