Book · 2020 · Aggressiveness
The Goodness Paradox
How Evolution Made Us Both More and Less Violent
Why people recommend it
The Goodness Paradox by Richard Wrangham is an evolutionary anthropology book that explores the dual human capacities for extreme violence and profound cooperation, examining how humans underwent a process of self-domestication. On The Ezra Klein Show, Jason Ferman recommended the book, noting that it investigates why humans can act with extreme benevolence toward one another yet execute meticulous and prolonged cruelty. Jordan B. Peterson featured the book on The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast during an episode with the author, highlighting how it addresses the strange evolutionary relationship between virtue and violence, as well as human self-domestication. Rob Henderson discussed the book on Modern Wisdom in conversations with Chris Williamson about human aggression, status-seeking, and capital punishment in early hunter-gatherer bands. The podcasters and guests consistently pointed to Wrangham's research as a crucial framework for understanding how evolutionary pressures shaped both the cooperative and aggressive sides of human nature over millennia.
Who recommended it
- Rob Henderson Discussed
- Jordan B. Peterson Recommended
- Jason Ferman Recommended
Rob Henderson — 2 mentions
“yeah yeah I wrote about that when I was discussing uh Richard rangham's book he's the the Harvard evolutionary biologist he wrote a great book called the goodness Paradox”
“there was a recent book uh by the harvard anthropologist i think he's anthropologist richard wrangham the goodness paradox and that whole book is about this idea of basically capital punishment”
Jordan B. Peterson — 2 mentions
“and then more recently the goodness paradox the strange relationship between virtue and violence and human evolution which was published in 2019”
“and then the goodness paradox that relates strange relationship between violence and virtue in human evolution”
Jason Ferman — 1 mention
“second one is outside of my discipline and it's the goodness Paradox by Richard rangam that gets at the question of why humans can be so good to each other but also can be so bad and when we're bad we plan it meticulously and execute it over a long period of time um rather than just do it spontaneously”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“um well I I studied chimpanzees and we have a a website called kibali chimpanzee project k-i-b-a-l-e kibali chimpanzee project and look up the goodness Paradox”