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Explaining human cruelty

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2006

Nick Zangwill*
Affiliation:
Philosophy Department, Durham University, DurhamDH1 3HN, United Kingdomhttp://www.dur.ac.uk/nick.zangwill/index.html

Abstract:

I ask four questions: (1) Why should we think that our hominid ancestor's predation is not just a causal influence but the main causal factor responsible for human cruelty? (2) Why not think of human cruelty as a necessary part of a syndrome in which other phenomena are necessarily involved? (3) What definitions of cruelty does Nell propose that we operate with? And (4) what about the meaning of cruelty for human beings?

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

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