Despite decades of research on altruism and aggression, as well as centuries of cumulative wisdom about human nature and animal life, we are still some distance from (1) having adequate scientific theories to explain their origins and patterns of expression and (2) having achieved well-developed capacities for understanding and resolving issues regarding conflict and cooperation. Problems in interpersonal relationships are equally evident within the family, within friendships, and in other social relationships of individuals within and across institutions, cultures, and nations. Negotiation and resolution of conflicts, capacities for intimacy that require empathy, and the delicate balancing of concern for others, hostility toward others, and self-interest – all are problem areas that continue to affect adversely the quality of social life. Yet they typically receive little priority relative to issues pertaining to technological advancements and mastery of the physical universe. The gap between the capacities for solving psychological problems and for solving physical or cognitive problems has often been acknowledged. As we near the end of the twentieth century, however, the mechanisms and machinery developed to master the physical universe have created serious problems.

The technology that ensued from the inventiveness of humans who constructed civilization as we know it ironically holds the potential for annihilation of all species. This calls into question what we have chosen to label as adaptive, progressive, and civilized. It also requires us to consider precisely what is meant by “survival of the fittest” in Darwinian or socio-biological terms.