The Genial Gene - Deconstructing Darwinian Selfishness

1. Auflage 2009
ISBN: 978-0-520-25826-6
Verlag: University of California Press

Buch, Englisch, 272 Seiten, Cloth Over Boards, Format (B × H): 159 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 505 g

Are selfishness and individuality—rather than kindness and cooperation—basic to biological nature? Does a "selfish gene" create universal sexual conflict? In The Genial Gene, Joan Roughgarden forcefully rejects these and other ideas that have come to dominate the study of animal evolution. Building on her brilliant and innovative book Evolution's Rainbow, in which she challenged accepted wisdom about gender identity and sexual orientation, Roughgarden upends the notion of the selfish gene and the theory of sexual selection and develops a compelling and controversial alternative theory called social selection. This scientifically rigorous, model-based challenge to an important tenet of neo-Darwinian theory emphasizes cooperation, elucidates the factors that contribute to evolutionary success in a gene pool or animal social system, and vigorously demonstrates that to identify Darwinism with selfishness and individuality misrepresents the facts of life as we now know them.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Roughgarden, Joan

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Tierkunde / Zoologie Tierethologie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Tierkunde / Zoologie Tierökologie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Evolutionsbiologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Is Nature Selfish?

COOPERATION AND TEAMWORK
1. Sexual Selection Defined

2. The Case against Sexual Selection

3. Social Selection Defined

THE GENETIC SYSTEM FOR SEX
4. The Gene: Recombination

5. The Cell: Sperm and Egg

6. The Body: Male, Female, and Hermaphrodite

THE SOCIAL SYSTEM FOR SEX
7. The Behavioral Tier

8. The Evolutionary Tier

9. Family Harmony and Discord

10. Sharing Offspring with Neighbors

Conclusion: Social versus Sexual Selection

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Joan Roughgarden is Professor of Biology at Stanford University. She is the author of Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People (UC Press), Evolution and Christian Faith, and Primer of Ecological Theory.