This important and original book examines the nature of politics from a perspective cutting across conventional academic disciplines. Returning to the traditional emphasis on human nature as the foundation of politics, Roger D. Masters links major issues in Western political philosophy with contemporary research in the life sciences. By relating evolutionary biology, social psychology, linguistics, and game theory to politics, Masters proposes a framework for the emerging field of biopolitics. Masters shows how selfishness ...
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This important and original book examines the nature of politics from a perspective cutting across conventional academic disciplines. Returning to the traditional emphasis on human nature as the foundation of politics, Roger D. Masters links major issues in Western political philosophy with contemporary research in the life sciences. By relating evolutionary biology, social psychology, linguistics, and game theory to politics, Masters proposes a framework for the emerging field of biopolitics. Masters shows how selfishness and altruism, participation in social groups, languages and cultures, and politics can all be illuminated by empirical evidence from the life sciences. To explore the nature of the human individual, for example, he presents experimental evidence indicating that the psychology of Plato is more exact than the traditions of Hobbes, Locke, and modern behaviorism. Cultural evolution is viewed as a process based on the emergence of human language as a system of information coding and transmission similar to the genetic system but not reducible to genetic determinism. Analyzing the origin of the centralized state, Masters relates contemporary theories of natural selection to the study of social cooperation in political philosophy, game theory, and history. This ambitious work, the fruit of more than twenty years of theoretical and experimental research, seeks to overcome the gap between the natural and social sciences. In addition, it offers a reasonable basis for judging, political institutions and ethical standards. Challenging the nihilism and relativism that have predominated in the West over the last century, Masters indicates why an evolutionary approach to human nature provides reasons for preferring a constitutional regime to autocratic or tyrannical governments. By viewing politics in terms of the kinds of social participation typical within our species for millions of years, this "new naturalism" can help us to formulate decent and humane standards of social life while providing a scientific foundation for the study of political behavior.
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Add this copy of The Nature of Politics to cart. $13.04, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Yale University Press.
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Good. First edition copy. Collectible-Good. Good dust jacket. First edition. Writing inside. Slight foxing inside and on page edges. (Vintage books, politics and government, cultural anthropology, political science)
Add this copy of The Nature of Politics to cart. $16.98, new condition, Sold by We Ship FAST to YOU rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Wilmington, NC, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Yale University Press.
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Fine. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 315 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Add this copy of The Nature of Politics to cart. $20.00, good condition, Sold by Jonathan Grobe Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Deep River, IA, UNITED STATES, published 1989 by Yale.
Add this copy of The Nature of Politics to cart. $20.73, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1989 by Yale University Press.
Add this copy of Nature of Politics to cart. $26.00, like new condition, Sold by Bear Pond Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Montpelier, VT, UNITED STATES, published 1989 by New Haven, CT: Yale Univ Press.
