Second Nature: Economic Origins of Human Evolution

ISBN-13: 9780521625340 / Angielski / Miękka / 2001 / 268 str.

Haim Ofek

Opis

This book spans two million years of human evolution and explores the impact of economics on human evolution and natural history. The theory of evolution by natural selection has always relied in part on progress in areas of science outside of biology. By applying economic principles at the borderlines of biology, Haim Ofek shows how some of the outstanding issues in human evolution, such as the increase in human brain size and the expansion of the environmental niche humans occupied, can be answered. He identifies distinct economic forces at work, beginning with the transition from the feed-as-you-go strategy of primates, through hunter-gathering and the domestication of fire to the development of agriculture. This highly readable book will inform and intrigue general readers and those in fields such as evolutionary biology and psychology, economics, and anthropology.

Recenzje

'… the boldness, coherence, and sweep of the book are impressive … an exhilarating and interesting read that raises powerful questions about how humans got here and how we should be studied.' Science

Spis treści

Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction; Part I. Bioeconomics: 2. Exchange in human and nonhuman societies; 3. Classical economics and classical Darwinism; 4. Evolutionary implications of division of labour; 5. The feeding ecology; 6. The origins of nepotistic exchange; 7. Baboon speciation versus human specialization; Part II. Paleoeconomics: 8. Departure from the feed-as-you-go strategy; 9. The origins of market exchange; 10. Domestication of fire in relation to market exchange; 11. The Upper Paleolithic and other creative explosions; 12. Transition to agriculture: the limiting factor; 13. Transition to agriculture: the facilitating factor; References; Index.