The field of the biology of morality has expanded substantially in recent decades — and it is still growing. Major books are listed below — with links to brief reviews for biology teachers and general readers. For a synoptic commentary on all the books, see the review essay.
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See books listed...
by author
by title
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Highly Recommended
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The Origins of Virtue, by Matt Ridley |
Evolutionary Origins of Morality: Cross- Disciplinary Perspectives, ed. by Leonard Katz |
Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals, by Frans de Waal |
Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior, by Christopher Boehm |
Recommended
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Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior, by Elliott Sober & David Sloan Wilson |
The Evolution of Cooperation, by Robert Axelrod |
Evolution of the Social Contract, by Brian Skyrms |
Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior, by Robert Richards |
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The Descent of Man
&
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals,
by Charles Darwin |
Moral Psychology (3 vols.), ed. by Walter Sinnott-Armstrong |
The Ape and the Sushi Master, by Frans de Waal |
Important Views on the Limits & Cultural Contexts of Science
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Not in Our Genes, by Richard C. Lewontin, Steven Rose & Leon J. Kamin |
Biology as Ideology: The Doctrine of DNA, by Richard C. Lewontin |
Lifelines: Life Beyond the Gene, by Steven Rose |
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The Temptations of Evolutionary Ethics, by Paul Farber |
The Secret Chain, by Michael Bradie |
Evolutionary Psychology as Maladapted Psychology, by Robert Richardson |
An Odd Kind of Fame: Stories of Phineas Gage, by Malcolm Macmillan |
Informative
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Morality as a Biological Phenomenon, edited by Gunther Stent |
Not By Genes Alone, by Peter Richerson and Robert Boyd |
 Primates and Philosophers, by Frans de Waal & commentators |
Biology and the Foundations of Ethics, edited by Jane Maienschein and Michael Ruse |
The Evolution of Agency and Other Essays, by Kim Sterelny |
The Natural Selection of Autonomy, by Bruce Waller |
The Biology and Psychology of Moral Agency, by William Roffschaffer |
The Evolution of Morality, by Richard Joyce |
Not Recommended (Approach Critically)
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The Moral Animal, by Robert Wright |
The Science of Good and Evil, by Michael Shermer |
Survival of the Prettiest, by Nancy Etcoff |
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