A persuasive meditation on altruism as a fundamental human trait.
Like Morton Hunt in The Compassionate Beast (p. 399), Kohn (No
Contest: The Case Against Competition, 1986 - not reviewed) sets
out to demonstrate that, contrary to popular and expert opinion,
humanity is not motivated by egoism alone. Unlike Hunt, however,
who relies almost entirely on a wealth of anecdotal and
experimental evidence to boost altruism, Kohn derides much
scientific investigation of the phenomenon, declaring that, for
example, sociobiology has little of use to say about altruism
because "biologists are not interested in motives." And it is in
the moral domain of motive (i.e., the mind) rather than in the
amoral domain of biological or economic necessity that Kohn -
through careful argument woven of common sense and the findings of
artists, humanistic psychologists, and philosophers (especially
Martin Buber) - finds the wellspring of altruism. Like Hunt, Kohn
names empathy ("the capacity to share in the affective life of
another") as the likely mechanism of altruism, empowered by the
human ability at "perspective taking" ("the capacity to imagine the
way the world looks from a vantage point other than one's own"). A
fascinating chapter explores the natural and inculcated (e.g., in
California's Child Development Program) development of empathy and
perspective taking in children, while in a provocative concluding
chapter Kohn examines the implications - for example, for
capitalism - of what he calls an "organic morality," wherein "what
we want to do and what we ought to do are not so far apart after
all." An elegant and erudite defense of human kindness that, by
providing a philosophical understanding of altruism, serves as a
necessary complement to Hunt's breezier, popular-scientific study.
(Kirkus Reviews)
Drawing from hundreds of studies in half a dozen fields, "The
Brighter Side of Human Nature" makes a powerful case that caring
and generosity are just as natural as selfishness and aggression.
This lively refutation of cynical assumptions about our species
considers the nature of empathy and the causes of war, why we
(incorrectly) explain all behavior in terms of self-interest, and
how we can teach children to care.
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