Why Good is Good

Robert A. Hinde CBE is Professor of Biological Science at St. John's College, Cambridge. He has written widely on topics as diverse as religion and science, zoology, sociology, anthropology, psychology, and ornithology. His most recent book is Why Gods Persist (Routledge, 1999).

'Hinde combines simplicity of exposition with the rigour of discursive analysis on questions of current importance in the field of ethics ... the reading of this book will be as seductive as it is illuminating.'

• Part 1 Setting the stage; Chapter 1 What Does Morality Include?; Chapter 2 The Approach; Chapter 3 Notes for a Conceptual Tool-Kit; Chapter 4 Continuity and Change; Chapter 5 Morality and the Self-System; Part 2 Where do moral precepts come from?; Chapter 6 Acquisition of a ‘Moral Sense’ and Moral Codes; Chapter 7 Sources of Moral Precepts; Chapter 8 Sources of Moral Precepts; Chapter 9 Sources of Moral Precepts; Chapter 10 Sources of Moral Precepts; Chapter 11 Sources of Moral Precepts; Chapter 12 Speculations Concerning the Emergence of Moral Systems; Part 3 Some practical and theoretical issues; Chapter 13 Sources of Conflict; Chapter 14 Emphasis on Biological Bases is not Biological Determinism; Chapter 15 Conclusion;