Description
Book SynopsisAre selfishness and individuality - rather than kindness and cooperation - basic to biological nature? Does a 'selfish gene' create universal sexual conflict? This title intends to reject these and other ideas that have come to dominate the study of animal evolution.
Trade Review"The arguments and counterarguments will most certainly generate a good deal of heat, but also, let's hope,... even more light." The American Scholar "Roughgarden's new theory is likely to end up an important extension to existing thought." New Scientist "Succeeds in re-opening issues long thought closed...(Challenging) what we thought we already know." Nature "Argues that... sexual selection as a form of self-seeking improvement on the part of each beast is a myth." New Yorker
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction: Is Nature Selfish?
COOPERATION AND TEAMWORK
1. Sexual Selection Defined
2. The Case against Sexual Selection
3. Social Selection Defined
THE GENETIC SYSTEM FOR SEX
4. The Gene: Recombination
5. The Cell: Sperm and Egg
6. The Body: Male, Female, and Hermaphrodite
THE SOCIAL SYSTEM FOR SEX
7. The Behavioral Tier
8. The Evolutionary Tier
9. Family Harmony and Discord
10. Sharing Offspring with Neighbors
Conclusion: Social versus Sexual Selection
Index
