Evolution, Human Behaviour and Morality

Olli Lagerspetz is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Åbo Akademi University, Finland. He is the author of Trust, Ethics and Human Reason and co-author of Edward Westermarck: Intellectual Networks, Philosophy and Social Anthropology. Jan Antfolk is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology at Åbo Akademi University, Finland. Ylva Gustafsson is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Philosophy at Åbo Akademi University, Finland. Camilla Kronqvist is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Philosophy at Åbo Akademi University, Finland.

'This book is an important contribution to the revival of interest in Edward Westermarck, one of the greatest but most overlooked of the classical sociologists. Most discussions of Westermarck focus on his now celebrated theory of incest avoidance, but this volume goes beyond that to consider him as a forerunner of evolutionary psychology and his Darwinian understanding of the evolution of morality. In that regard it is especially welcome.' Stephen K. Sanderson, University of California, Riverside, USA

• 1. Introduction: Westermarck and Modern Evolutionary Approaches to Morality Part 1: Westermarck and the Emergence of 20th Century Social Anthropology2. Westermarck and the Emergence of 20th Century Social Anthropology: Three Main Challenges 3. Westermarck, Malinowski and the 'Wild Things': At the Interface between Anthropology, Sexology and Psychoanalysis 4. The Sensitiveness of the Holy: Westermarck and Durkheim on Religion and Society 5. Westermarck, the Evolutionists and the Question of Context Part 2: Westermarck as a Precursor of Evolutionary Psychology 6. Westermarck as a Precursor of Evolutionary Psychology: The Nature and Nurture of Evolutionary Explanations 7. Itemising Westermarck's Hypothesis: The Assumptions Embedded in Westermarck's Explanation of Human Incest Avoidanc 8. The Westermarck Thesis as a Thinking Tool for Sociobiology Part 3: The Emotional Origins of Morality9. The Emotional Origins of Morality: Methodological Issues 10. The Evolution of Westermarck's Theory of Moral Emotions 11. Westermarck and Moore on the Source of Morality 12. Emotions and Moral Relativism: Prinz and Westermarck Part 4: Evolutionary Psychology of Morality: Critical Perspectives13. Critical Perspectives on Evolutionary Psychology and Morality 14. Why Altruism May Not be the Right Concept for Understanding Morality 15. Westermarck, Sympathy and Natural Selection 16. Darwinian Conservatives and Westermarck's Ethics: A Political Dimension of the Late 20th Century Westermarckian Renaissance