Human Nature and Public Policy: An Evolutionary Approach
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Albert Somit, Steven Peterson and the contributors to this volume are all the more convincing that they are not extremists. They do not overstate the case for a sociobiological approach. Instead, they show the relevance of an Evolutionary Model to public policy through a series of well documented chapters ranging from subjects as diverse as drug addiction, education, environmental protection, euthanasia, electoral marketing, and international relations. A welcome and successful contribution to public policy and to research in the social sciences." -- Jean Laponce, Department of Political Science, The University of British Columbia
"The explanation of social phenomena can no longer follow the historians' reliance on inferences from preceding events or even the psychologists' model of dividing the account between circumstances and dispositions, partly because dispositions themselves must be explained. Like Steven Pinker's The Blank Slate, Somit and Peterson and the authors in their collection show how crucial to our understanding of behavior and the policies that seek to regulate it is the genetic contribution to that behavior. Whether the policy addresses prostitution, addiction, criminal justice, social conflict, or agricultural policy, the causes of the behavior and the responses to various policies must enlist the working of the brain. How to account for the working of the brain? Obviously, the answers lie in an understanding of evolution. Somit and Peterson's collection makes an important contribution to our broader understanding of human behavior as well as to our thinking about a variety of policy problems."
-Robert Lane
Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Yale University
Human Nature and Public Policy: An Evolutionary Approach,Albert Somit,Steven A. Peterson,Palgrave Macmillan,1403962855,General,Human behavior,Policy sciences,Politics / Current Events,Politics/International Relations,Public Affairs & Administration,Science / General
Discount Books:
Recommended Books