ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a brief personal reflection on Robin Fox's work as it conveniently exposes how—primarily from within anthropology—to anthropologists' present idea of human nature. It proceeds to key examples of present research that compel them to rethink human nature and to draw out some ethical implications. From where anthropologists stand, this concept of human nature no longer seems to fit with the results from some research programs on both gene-culture co-evolution and the adaptive nature of individual differences in life-history strategies and developmental trajectories. The chapter suggests that ethical standard for adjudicating the socially acceptable from the unacceptable—or the rights of individuals—is the impact of behavior on society as a whole. In other words, to the extent that specific human cultures have evolved as adaptations to environmental factors, the individual fitness gains of a few should not reduce the overall fitness of society as a whole if the society is the basis for ecological adaptation.
