Social evolutionA biological history of cooperation

  1. Carazo, Pau 1
  1. 1 University of Valencia (Spain).
Journal:
Mètode Science Studies Journal: Annual Review

ISSN: 2174-3487,  2174-9221

Year of publication: 2023

Issue Title: Science. The Genesis of Ideas

Issue: 13

Type: Article

DOI: 10.7203/METODE.13.22348 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Mètode Science Studies Journal: Annual Review

Abstract

To talk about life is to talk about cooperation. Its evolutionary origin, different levels of organisation, and current complexity are the result of cooperation between different biological entities. This is also the case with animal societies, including the most complex of them all, the human society. Our language and extraordinary culture, our cities and vast social networks, are the fruit of cooperation. In a world dominated by Darwinian competition, how has cooperation come to play such an important role? Social evolution, the study of the biological bases of cooperation, tackles this question. From the origin of the first cell and to the explosion of social life in animals, social evolution explains how and why cooperation has guided life on our planet.

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