Social evolution: A biological history of cooperation

Pau Carazo

Abstract


To talk about life is to talk about cooperation. Its evolutionary origin, different levels of organisation, and current complexity are the result of cooperation between different biological entities. This is also the case with animal societies, including the most complex of them all, the human society. Our language and extraordinary culture, our cities and vast social networks, are the fruit of cooperation. In a world dominated by Darwinian competition, how has cooperation come to play such an important role? Social evolution, the study of the biological bases of cooperation, tackles this question. From the origin of the first cell and to the explosion of social life in animals, social evolution explains how and why cooperation has guided life on our planet.

Keywords


biology; cooperation; altruism; social behaviour; human societies; social evolution

Full Text: PDF

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.13.22348

References


Bourke, A. F. G. (2011). Principles of social evolution. Oxford Series in Ecology and Evolution. Oxford University Press.

Darwin, C. (1859). The origin of species. Murray & Sons.

Dennet, D. C. (1995). Darwin’s dangerous idea. Simon & Schuster.

Hamilton, W. D. (1964a). The genetical evolution of social behaviour. I. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 7, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5193(64)90038-4

Hamilton, W. D. (1964b). The genetical evolution of social behaviour. II. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 7, 17–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5193(64)90039-6

Laland, K. (2008). Animal cultures. Current Biology, 18, R366–R370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2008.02.049

Marshall, J. A. R. (2015). Social evolution and inclusive fitness theory. Princeton.

Maynard Smith, J. (1964). Group selection and kin selection. Nature, 201, 1145–1147. https://doi.org/10.1038/2011145a0

Riehl, C., & Frederickson, E. (2015). Cheating and punishment in cooperative animal societies. Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B, 371, 20150090. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0090

Trivers, R. (2017). Vida indómita. Antoni Bosch.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.