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The science of good and evil : why people cheat, gossip, care, share, and follow the golden rule Cover Image

The science of good and evil : why people cheat, gossip, care, share, and follow the golden rule / Michael Shermer.

Shermer, Michael. (Author).

Record details

ISBN: 0805075208
Physical Description: xii, 350 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: New York : Times Books, 2004.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 317-330) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Prologue : one long argument -- I. The origins of morality -- Transcendent morality : how evolution ennobles ethics -- Why we are moral : the evolutionary origins of morality -- Why we are immoral : war, violence, and the ignoble savage within -- Master of my fate : making moral choices in a determined universe -- II. A science of provisional ethics -- Can we be good without God? : science, religion, and morality -- How we are moral : absolute, relative, and provisional ethics -- How we are immoral : right and wrong and how to tell the difference -- Rise above : tolerance, freedom, and the prospects for humanity -- Appendix I. The devil under form of baboon : the evolution of evolutionary ethics -- Appendix II. Moral and religious universals as a subset of human universals.