Human Evolution and the Origins of Hierarchies: The State of Nature

by Benoît Dubreuil

Overview

In this book, Benoît Dubreuil explores the creation and destruction of hierarchies in human evolution. Combining the methods of archaeology, anthropology, cognitive neuroscience and primatology, he offers a natural history of hierarchies from the point of view of both cultural and biological evolution. This volume explains why dominance hierarchies typical of primate societies disappeared in the human lineage and why the emergence of large-scale societies during the Neolithic period implied increased social differentiation, the creation of status hierarchies, and, eventually, political centralisation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780511852596
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/06/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	992 KB

About the Author

Benoît Dubreuil is a postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Philosophy of the Université du Québec à Montréal. His work on moral philosophy and philosophy of science has been published in Biology and Philosophy, Philosophical Explorations, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, and Review of Philosophy and Psychology.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. A passion for equality?; 2. Reversing dominance hierarchies; 3. Homo sapiens in perspective; 4. Hierarchy without the state; 5. The origins of the state; Conclusion.