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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2014

Morris B. Hoffman
Affiliation:
University of Colorado Boulder
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Summary

Evolution built us to punish cheaters. Without that punishment instinct, we would never have been able to live in small groups, and would never have realized all the significant benefits that small-group living conferred, including mutual defense, cooperative hunting, property, divisions of labor, and economies of scale. In fact, to a large extent our notions of right and wrong, of empathy and compassion, of fairness and justice, all come from the tensions of group living, and thus indirectly owe their very existence to punishment. It may sound strange that one key to civilization is our willingness to punish each other, but every parent knows it's true.

Every parent also feels the irresistible pull not to punish too much, and in fact maybe not to punish at all – to forgive – and this, too, is a remnant of evolution. Our punishment instinct is not so much a sword ready to fall as it is a finely tuned balance, sometimes susceptible to the gentlest of breezes.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Punisher's Brain
The Evolution of Judge and Jury
, pp. 1 - 13
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

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References

Boyd, R. et al., The evolution of altruistic punishment, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 100, 3531–3535 (2003)Google Scholar
Fehr, E. & Fischbacher, U., Social norms and human cooperation, Trends Cogn. Sci. 8, 185–190 (Apr, 2004)Google Scholar
Bucholtz, J. & Marois, R., The roots of modern justice: cognitive and neural foundations of social norms and their enforcement, Nature Neuroscience, 15(5), 655–661 (2012)Google Scholar
Passions within Reason: The Strategic Role of Emotions (Norton 1988)
Homer, The Iliad, Book 4:530 at p. 160 (tr. Fagles, R., Penguin 1990)Google Scholar

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  • Introduction
  • Morris B. Hoffman, University of Colorado Boulder
  • Book: The Punisher's Brain
  • Online publication: 05 May 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139811873.001
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  • Introduction
  • Morris B. Hoffman, University of Colorado Boulder
  • Book: The Punisher's Brain
  • Online publication: 05 May 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139811873.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Morris B. Hoffman, University of Colorado Boulder
  • Book: The Punisher's Brain
  • Online publication: 05 May 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139811873.001
Available formats
×