Human social evolution: the foundational works of Richard D. Alexander

Richard D. Alexander is an accomplished entomologist who turned his attention to solving some of the most perplexing problems associated with the evolution of human social systems. Using impeccable Darwinian logic and elaborating, extending and adding to the classic theoretical contributions of pioneers of behavioral and evolutionary ecology like George Williams, William Hamilton and Robert Trivers, Alexander developed the most detailed and comprehensive vision of human social evolution of his era. His ideas and hypotheses have inspired countless biologists, anthropologists, psychologists and.;Cover; Contents; Contributors; Preface; Introduction: Kyle Summers and Bernard Crespi; PART I: General Foundations; 1. Insect Behavior and Social Evolution; Introduction: From Cricket Taxonomy to a Darwinian Philosophy of Man by Mary Jane West-Eberhard, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Excerpt from Alexander, R.D. 1969. Comparative animal behavior and systematics. In: Systematic Biology. Proceedings of the International Conference on Systematics (Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 1967). National Academy of Sciences Publication 1962: 494-517; 2. Cooperation.