Beyond War

The Human Potential for Peace
Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-0-19-538461-1
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 352 Seiten, Format (B × H): 140 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 497 g

A profoundly heartening view of human nature, Beyond War offers a hopeful prognosis for a future without war. Douglas P. Fry convincingly argues that our ancient ancestors were not innately warlike--and neither are we. He points out that, for perhaps ninety-nine percent of our history, for well over a million years, humans lived in nomadic hunter-and-gatherer groups, egalitarian bands where warfare was a rarity. Drawing on archaeology and fascinating recent fieldwork on hunter-gatherer bands from around the world, Fry debunks the idea that war is ancient and inevitable. For instance, among Aboriginal Australians, warfare was an extreme anomaly. Fry also points out that even today, when war seems ever present, the vast majority of us live peaceful, nonviolent lives. We are not as warlike as we think, and if we can learn from our ancestors, we may be able to move beyond war to provide real justice and security for the world.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Fry, Douglas P

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Friedens- und Konfliktforschung
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Konflikt- und Friedensforschung, Rüstungskontrolle, Abrüstung
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Foreword by Robert M. Sapolsky

- Preface

- Acknowledgments

- 1: - Charting a New Direction

- 2: - Do Nonwarring Societies Actually Exist?

- 3: Overlooked and Underappreciated: The Human Potential for Peace

- 4: Killer Apes, Cannibals, and Coprolites: Projecting Mayhem onto the Past

- 5: The Earliest Evidence of War

- 6: War and Social Organization: From Nomadic Bands to Modern States

- 7: Seeking Justice: The Quest for Fairness

- 8: Man the Warrior: Fact or Fantasy?

- 9: Insights from the Outback: Geneva Conventions in the Australian Bush

- 10: Void if Detached from Reality: Australian "Warriors," Yanomamö Unokais, and Lethal Raiding Psychology

- 11: Returning to the Evidence: Life in the Band

- 12: Darwin Got It Right: Sex Differences in Aggression

- 13: A New Evolutionary Perspective: The Nomadic Forager Model

- 14: Setting the Record Straight

- 15: A Macroscopic Anthropological View

- 16: Enhancing Peace

- Appendix 1: Organizations to Contact

- Appendix 2: Nonwarring Societies

- Notes

- Suggested Reading

- Index

Über Autor(innen)

Douglas P. Fry teaches in the Faculty of Social and Caring Sciences at Åbo Akademi University in Finland and is an adjunct research scientist in the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology at the University of Arizona. A renowned anthropologist and a leading authority on aggression and conflict resolution, he has worked in this field for over twenty-five years and has published many articles and books on this subject.