A Different Kind of Animal

How our ability to learn from each other has been the essential ingredient to our remarkable success as a species

Human beings have evolved to become the most dominant species on Earth. This astonishing transformation is usually explained in terms of cognitive ability—people are just smarter than all the rest. However, Robert Boyd argues that culture—our ability to learn from each other—has been the essential ingredient of our remarkable success. He illustrates how a unique combination of cultural adaptation and large-scale cooperation has transformed our species and assured our survival, making us the different kind of animal we are today.

Based on the Tanner Lectures delivered at Princeton University, A Different Kind of Animal features challenging responses by biologist H. Allen Orr, philosopher Kim Sterelny, economist Paul Seabright, and evolutionary anthropologist Ruth Mace, as well as an introduction by Stephen Macedo.