The Moral Animal

This book by Robert Wright came up once on Lex Fridman in the episodes we index. That mention was a genuine on-air recommendation, not just a passing reference. The people who brought it up: Chris Williamson. Every occurrence below links to the episode page and to the exact second it was said on YouTube.

Every so often the world of ideas is shaken by what the philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn famously dubbed a "paradigm shift." As Robert Wright shows in this pathbreaking book, such a shift is occurring now - one that will change the way people see their lives and the way they choose to live their lives. From the work of evolutionary biologists and of scholars all across the social sciences, a new science called evolutionary psychology is emerging, and with it a radically revised view of human nature and the human mind. In its light, the oldest and most basic questions look different and wholly new questions arise.