A Better Ape by Victor Kumar and Richmond Campbell offers a readable assessment of the evolution of morality, pointing to the importance of social groups, cooperation, and conflict resolution in the human career. Cultural evolution is an inspiration for this book, since moral norms, language, arts, etc., are not transmitted by genes alone. In a comprehensively researched and engaging narrative, Kumar and Campbell base the story of human flourishing on morality. This is a bold claim but well argued in an organized text that logically flows through subject areas. The book is useful across disciplines since it pulls together and updates scientific and philosophical precedents on morality as a bio-cultural adaptation.
Whether in China or Brazil, we are unavoidably surrounded by culture from parents, grandparents, peers, educators, and even adversaries, with extra force exerted from the arts, media, etc. Without dismissing social feelings and emotions in other animals, these authors...