Description

Sanderson aims to provide a lucid account of a body of theory that has profoundly affected both intellectual and popular assumptions about human nature, society and behaviour. He describes the prominent and controversial role that evolutionary ideas have played in the development of social theory. He demonstrates the diversity of evolutionary ideas by comparing their notions of causation, their assumptions about human progress, and the adequacy of their modes of interpretation of evidence. Although he is highly critical of some aspects of evolutionary thinking and some modes of evolutionism, Sanderson shows that an evolutionary interpretation of world history contributes vital insights about the character of human social life.