ABSTRACT

Human Nature offers a wide-ranging and holistic view of human nature from all perspectives: scientific, historical, and sociological. Mary Clark takes the most recent data from a dozen or more fields, and works it together with clarifying anecdotes and thought-provoking images to challenge conventional Western beliefs with hopeful new insights. Balancing the theories of cutting-edge neuroscience with the insights of primitive mythologies, Mary Clark provides down-to-earth suggestions for peacefully resolving global problems. Human Nature builds up a coherent, and above all positive, picture of who we really are.

chapter |38 pages

INTRODUCTION

Framing the problem

chapter I|26 pages

QUESTIONING THE “SCIENTIZED” IMAGE

chapter II|33 pages

WHY WE PRIMATES ARE NOT “GAME THEORISTS”

chapter III|28 pages

THE SELECTING OF HOMO SAPIENS

chapter IV|34 pages

BRAIN MATTERS

chapter V|32 pages

A THIRST FOR MEANING

chapter VI|37 pages

HOW EXPERIENCE SHAPES THE BRAIN

chapter VIII|42 pages

HISTORY, THE STORY OF MEANINGS THROUGH TIME

chapter IX|34 pages

HUMANKIND CROSSES THE RUBICON, 1900–2000

chapter X|34 pages

CONFLICT: CONTROL OR RECONCILIATION?

chapter XI|33 pages

THE SEARCH FOR AUTONOMY WITHIN COMMUNITY