Have humans always waged war? Is warring an ancient evolutionary adaptation or a relatively recent behavior-and what does that tell us about human nature? In War, Peace, and Human Nature, editor Douglas P. Fry brings together leading experts in evolutionary biology, archaeology, anthropology, and primatology to answer fundamental questions about peace, conflict, and human nature in an evolutionary context. The essays in this book demonstrate that humans clearly have the capacity to make war, but since war is absent in some cultures, it cannot be viewed as a human universal. And the archaeological record reveals the recent emergence of war. It does not typify the ancestral type of human society, the nomadic forager band, and contrary to widespread assumptions, there is little support for the idea that war is ancient or an evolved adaptation. This book shows that views of human nature as inherently warlike stem not from the facts but from cultural views embedded in Western ways of thinking. Drawing upon evolutionary and ecological models; the archaeological record of the origins of war; nomadic forager societies past and present; the value and limitations of primate analogies; and the evolution of agonism and restraint; the essays in this interdisciplinary volume refute many popular generalizations and effectively bring scientific objectivity to the culturally and historically controversial subjects of war, peace, and human nature. 'This encyclopedic collection of excellent, wide-ranging, and myth-busting essays by renowned scholars should be required reading for anyone interested in how we came to be who we are and the future of humankind. A much-needed paradigm shift is in the making because of the increased recognition that we are not inherently destructive and competitive beings. This remarkable book will facilitate this transition as we expand our compassion footprint and give peace the chance it deserves. Cooperation, empathy, and peace will prevail if we allow them to.' - Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals, Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals, and The Animal Manifesto: Six Reasons For Expanding Our Compassion Footprint

Series Information:
War and Society

Although war and physical violence may seem inevitable, societies from around the world prove differently. This collection of ethnographies discusses how non-violent values and conflict resolution strategies can help to create and maintain peace. Societies like the Hopi of Northern Arizona, the Nubians of Egypt and the Zapotec of Mexico serve as models of peacemaking.

This volume's central purpose is to provide a clearly written, scholarly exploration of cultural variation regarding conflict resolution and in so doing, highlight certain alternatives to violence. It presents an interdisciplinary examination of how conflicts are perceived and handled in a variety of cultural settings. Drawing on data and models from anthropology, psychology, and political science, the chapters analyze conflict resolution across the societal spectrum, including cases from Western and non-Western traditions, complex and tribal societies, and violent and non-violent cultures. While demonstrating the extremely important impact of culture on conflict resolution processes, the book does not solely emphasize cultural specificity. Rather--through introductory chapters, section introductions, and a concluding chapter--the volume editors draw attention to cross-cultural patterns in an attempt to further the search for more general conflict principles.
An explicit message throughout the book is that alternatives to violence exist. The volume demonstrates that at various levels--from the interpersonal to the international-- conflicts can be handled in ways that cause far less pain and destruction than violence. Chapters by psychologists discuss social and cognitive processes for facilitating the learning of alternatives to violence among children and youth. Anthropology contributors explore mechanisms for dealing with social conflict which allow some cultures to remain relatively peaceful and consider implications of their work for reducing violence in other societies. Chapters by former President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, and by political scientists examine how non-violent political solutions can be employed as alternatives to warfare and violent resistence.

This volume's central purpose is to provide a clearly written, scholarly exploration of cultural variation regarding conflict resolution and in so doing, highlight certain alternatives to violence. It presents an interdisciplinary examination of how conflicts are perceived and handled in a variety of cultural settings. Drawing on data and models from anthropology, psychology, and political science, the chapters analyze conflict resolution across the societal spectrum, including cases from Western and non-Western traditions, complex and tribal societies, and violent and non-violent cultures. While demonstrating the extremely important impact of culture on conflict resolution processes, the book does not solely emphasize cultural specificity. Rather--through introductory chapters, section introductions, and a concluding chapter--the volume editors draw attention to cross-cultural patterns in an attempt to further the search for more general conflict principles.
An explicit message throughout the book is that alternatives to violence exist. The volume demonstrates that at various levels--from the interpersonal to the international-- conflicts can be handled in ways that cause far less pain and destruction than violence. Chapters by psychologists discuss social and cognitive processes for facilitating the learning of alternatives to violence among children and youth. Anthropology contributors explore mechanisms for dealing with social conflict which allow some cultures to remain relatively peaceful and consider implications of their work for reducing violence in other societies. Chapters by former President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, and by political scientists examine how non-violent political solutions can be employed as alternatives to warfare and violent resistence.

Have humans always waged war? Is warring an ancient evolutionary adaptation or a relatively recent behavior-and what does that tell us about human nature? In War, Peace, and Human Nature, editor Douglas P. Fry brings together leading experts in such fields as evolutionary biology, archaeology, anthropology, and primatology to answer fundamental questions about peace, conflict, and human nature in an evolutionary context. The chapters in this book demonstrate that humans clearly have the capacity to make war, but since war is absent in some cultures, it cannot be viewed as a human universal. And counter to frequent presumption the actual archaeological record reveals the recent emergence of war. It does not typify the ancestral type of human society, the nomadic forager band, and contrary to widespread assumptions, there is little support for the idea that war is ancient or an evolved adaptation. Views of human nature as inherently warlike stem not from the facts but from cultural views embedded in Western thinking. Drawing upon evolutionary and ecological models; the archaeological record of the origins of war; nomadic forager societies past and present; the value and limitations of primate analogies; and the evolution of agonism, including restraint; the chapters in this interdisciplinary volume refute many popular generalizations and effectively bring scientific objectivity to the culturally and historically controversial subjects of war, peace, and human nature.

Nurturing Our Humanity offers a new perspective on our personal and social options in today's world, showing how we can build societies that support our great human capacities for consciousness, caring, and creativity. It brings together findings-largely overlooked-from the natural and social sciences debunking the popular idea that we are hard-wired for selfishness, war, rape, and greed. Its groundbreaking new approach reveals connections between disturbing trends like climate change denial and regressions to strongman rule. Moving past right vs. left, religious vs. secular, Eastern vs. Western, and other familiar categories that do not include our formative parent-child and gender relations, it looks at where societies fall on the partnership-domination scale. On one end is the domination system that ranks man over man, man over woman, race over race, and man over nature. On the other end is the more peaceful, egalitarian, gender-balanced, and sustainable partnership system. Nurturing Our Humanity explores how behaviors, values, and socio-economic institutions develop differently in these two environments, documents how this impacts nothing less than how our brains develop, examines cultures from this new perspective (including societies that for millennia oriented toward partnership), and proposes actions supporting the contemporary movement in this more life-sustaining and enhancing direction. It shows how through today's ever more fearful, frenzied, and greed-driven technologies of destruction and exploitation, the domination system may lead us to an evolutionary dead end. A more equitable and sustainable way of life is biologically possible and culturally attainable: we can change our course.

A profoundly heartening view of human nature, Beyond War offers a hopeful prognosis for a future without war. Douglas P. Fry convincingly argues that our ancient ancestors were not innately warlike--and neither are we. He points out that, for perhaps ninety-nine percent of our history, for well over a million years, humans lived in nomadic hunter-and-gatherer groups, egalitarian bands where warfare was a rarity. Drawing on archaeology and fascinating recent fieldwork on hunter-gatherer bands from around the world, Fry debunks the idea that war is ancient and inevitable. For instance, among Aboriginal Australians, warfare was an extreme anomaly. Fry also points out that even today, when war seems ever present, the vast majority of us live peaceful, nonviolent lives. We are not as warlike as we think, and if we can learn from our ancestors, we may be able to move beyond war to provide real justice and security for the world.