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Multilevel Selection

Theoretical Foundations, Historical Examples, and Empirical Evidence

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  • © 2020

Overview

Authors:
  1. Steven C. Hertler

    1. College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, USA

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  2. Aurelio José Figueredo

    1. University of Arizona, Tucson, USA

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  3. Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre

    1. University of Arizona, Tucson, USA

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  • Provides new empirical evidence for human group selection
  • Demonstrates how groups balance external threat against internal dissolution
  • Accomplishes a comprehensive treatment of multilevel selection theory
  • Follows the principles of gene-culture coevolution in positing a dynamic interplay between cultural and genetic selection

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-lii
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  2. An Intellectual History of Multilevel Selection from Darwin to Dawkins

    • Aurelio José Figueredo, Steven C. Hertler, Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre
    Pages 1-40

  3. An Intellectual History of Multilevel Selection: Reformulation and Resuscitation

    • Steven C. Hertler, Aurelio José Figueredo, Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre
    Pages 41-70

  4. Theoretical Foundations of Multilevel Selection Among Humans

    • Steven C. Hertler, Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre, Aurelio José Figueredo
    Pages 71-99

  5. Aggregation: From Ethnic and Regional Competition to Group Selection at the Level of States and Nations

    • Steven C. Hertler, Aurelio José Figueredo, Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre
    Pages 101-136

  6. Growth, Maintenance, Control, and Competition

    • Steven C. Hertler, Aurelio José Figueredo, Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre
    Pages 137-174

  7. Decline

    • Steven C. Hertler, Aurelio José Figueredo, Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre
    Pages 175-199

  8. The Collapse and Regeneration of Complex Societies

    • Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre, Aurelio José Figueredo, Steven C. Hertler
    Pages 201-223

  9. Chimpanzee Intercommunity Conflict: Fitness Outcomes, Power Imbalances, and Multilevel Selection

    • Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre, Aurelio José Figueredo, Steven C. Hertler
    Pages 225-249

  10. Lethal Intergroup Competition in Non-State Societies: From Small-Scale Raids to Large-Scale Battles

    • Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre, Aurelio José Figueredo, Steven C. Hertler
    Pages 251-273

  11. The Sociopolitical Integrity of the Roman State: Intragroup Competition, Intergroup Competition, and Economic Dynamics

    • Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre, Aurelio José Figueredo, Steven C. Hertler
    Pages 275-296

  12. Dear Enemies: French and English Power Ratios

    • Aurelio José Figueredo, Steven C. Hertler, Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre
    Pages 297-319

  13. Expansion, Fission, and Decline: England and Anglo America

    • Aurelio José Figueredo, Steven C. Hertler, Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre
    Pages 321-346

  14. Back Matter

    Pages 347-359
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Keywords

About this book

This book embeds a novel evolutionary analysis of human group selection within a comprehensive overview of multilevel selection theory, a theory wherein evolution proceeds at the level of individual organisms and collectives, such as human families, tribes, states, and empires. Where previous works on the topic have variously supported multilevel selection with logic, theory, experimental data, or via review of the zoological literature; in this book the authors uniquely establish the validity of human group selection as a historical evolutionary process within a multilevel selection framework.


Select portions of the historical record are examined from a multilevel selectionist perspective, such that clashing civilizations, decline and fall, law, custom, war, genocide, ostracism, banishment, and the like are viewed with the end of understanding their implications for internal cohesion, external defense, and population demography. In doing so, its authors advance the potential for further interdisciplinary study in fostering, for instance, the convergence of history and biology. This work will provide fresh insights not only for evolutionists but also for researchers working across the social sciences and humanities.


Reviews

“Multi-Level Selection is the only logically coherent and empirically supported theory that can explain human ultrasociality—the capacity of humans to cooperate in huge groups of genetically unrelated individuals. Yet influential critics, including Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker, continue to reject it. This timely and important book is a welcome entrant to this intense scientific debate. The stakes are high, because understanding how cooperation evolved and can be maintained is key to solving the Tragedy of the Commons problems at both local and global levels.”—Peter Turchin, author of Ultrasociety (2015) and Professor at University of Connecticut, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  • College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, USA

    Steven C. Hertler

  • University of Arizona, Tucson, USA

    Aurelio José Figueredo, Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre

About the authors

Steven C. Hertler is a licensed examining psychologist and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the College of Saint Elizabeth, USA. 


Aurelio José Figueredo is Professor of Psychology, Family Studies and Human Development at the University of Arizona, USA. Dr. Figueredo also serves as Director of the Ethology and Evolutionary Psychology (EEP) Laboratory.


Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre is a Ph.D. candidate in the Cognitive and Neural Systems Program and a researcher at the University of Arizona, USA.


Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Multilevel Selection

  • Book Subtitle: Theoretical Foundations, Historical Examples, and Empirical Evidence

  • Authors: Steven C. Hertler, Aurelio José Figueredo, Mateo Peñaherrera-Aguirre

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49520-6

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and Psychology, Behavioral Science and Psychology (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-49519-0Published: 03 September 2020

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-49522-0Published: 03 September 2021

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-49520-6Published: 02 September 2020

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: LII, 359

  • Number of Illustrations: 9 b/w illustrations, 10 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Biological Psychology, Behavioral Genetics, Social History, Anthropology, Psychological Methods/Evaluation

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