#10533. On the use of evolutionary mismatch theories in debating human prosociality

October 2026publication date
Proposal available till 27-05-2025
4 total number of authors per manuscript0 $

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Journal’s subject area:
Education;
Health (social science);
Health Policy;
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Abstract:
According to some evolutionary theorists human prosocial dispositions emerged in a context of inter-group competition and violence that made our psychology parochially prosocial, ie. cooperative towards in-groups and competitive towards strangers. This evolutionary hypothesis is sometimes employed in bioethical debates to argue that human nature and contemporary environments, and especially large-scale societies, are mismatched. In this article we caution against the use of mismatch theories in moral philosophy in general and discuss empirical evidence that puts into question mismatch theories based on parochial prosociality.
Keywords:
Cooperation; Enhancement; Evolution; Human Nature; Prosociality

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