The DOI matches its Crossref record.
A Natural History of Human Morality
Abstract
Michael Tomasello offers the most detailed account to date of the evolution of human moral psychology. Based on experimental data comparing great apes and human children, he reconstructs two key evolutionary steps whereby early humans gradually became an ultra-cooperative and, eventually, a moral species capable of acting as a plural agent “we”.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“This general idea has been elaborated particularly clearly by Tomasello (2016), who presented an explanation for the evolution of morality that included a proposal for the reduction of aggressiveness in H. sapiens. Tomasello called it the “interdependence hypothesis.””
From Hypotheses for the Evolution of Reduced Reactive Aggression in the Context of Human Self-Domestication (2019) · cites this paper as Tomasello, 2016
In the citing paper
“Selection favored a low propensity for male aggression because offspring were thereby better protected from the father’s potential violence.”
From Hypotheses for the Evolution of Reduced Reactive Aggression in the Context of Human Self-Domestication (2019) · cites this paper as Tomasello, 2016
In the citing paper
“The result was a new kind of interdependence, such that individuals who were collaborative and less selfish were favored: cooperators fed better, for instance, than those who were not chosen as foraging partners.”
From Hypotheses for the Evolution of Reduced Reactive Aggression in the Context of Human Self-Domestication (2019) · cites this paper as Tomasello, 2016
In the citing paper
“First, due to this ecological change, mid-Pleistocene Homo were forced to collaborate in the food quest, rather than foraging individually as they had until then.”
From Hypotheses for the Evolution of Reduced Reactive Aggression in the Context of Human Self-Domestication (2019) · cites this paper as Tomasello, 2016
In the citing paper
“Effective cooperation depended on a reduction in selfishness and aggressiveness, and on a concomitant increase in sympathy and shared intentionality.”
From Hypotheses for the Evolution of Reduced Reactive Aggression in the Context of Human Self-Domestication (2019) · cites this paper as Tomasello, 2016
In the citing paper
“According to the interdependence hypothesis the initial influence on the road to a human style of morality occurred around 400,000 years ago when there was a “disappearance of individually obtainable foods” (Tomasello, 2016: 136).”
From Hypotheses for the Evolution of Reduced Reactive Aggression in the Context of Human Self-Domestication (2019) · cites this paper as Tomasello, 2016
In the citing paper
“The ability to conduct planned executions means that the killers must share explicit intentions with each other, a capacity that is unique to humans (Tomasello, 2016).”
From Hypotheses for the Evolution of Reduced Reactive Aggression in the Context of Human Self-Domestication (2019) · cites this paper as Tomasello, 2016
Citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 501–600 of 913
The Non-Conceptual Dimension of Social Mediation: Toward a Materialist Aufhebung of Hegel
Christias, D. (2019) · International Journal of Philosophical Studies · doi:10.1080/09672559.2019.1611085 · Cited by 1
Interlocutors, Nonhuman Actors, and the Ethics of Literary Signification
Wehrs, D. R. (2019) · Humanities · doi:10.3390/h8020108 · Cited by 1
The space between rationalism and sentimentalism: A perspective from moral development
Rottman, J. (2019) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x18002698 · Cited by 1
Tuniz, C., & Vipraio, P. T. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-36522-6_6 · Cited by 1
The Ontogeny and Evolution of Cooperation
Grueneisen, S., & Wyman, E. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108131797.023 · Cited by 1
Herde und Leithammel: Diffusion von Verantwortung
Hasebrook, J. P., Hackl, B., & Rodde, S. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-60627-8_11 · Cited by 1
Hasebrook, J. P., Hackl, B., & Rodde, S. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-60627-8_16 · Cited by 1
Argumentation in Evolution: On the Relation Between Dyadic and Public Communication
Verhagen, A. (2021) · Argumentation library · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-52907-9_3 · Cited by 2
Beran, O. (2021) · Philosophical Investigations · doi:10.1111/phin.12311 · Cited by 1
Znaczenie badań empirycznych w etyce. Psychologia moralności a etyka filozoficzna
Zachorodna, K. (2021) · Ruch Filozoficzny · doi:10.12775/rf.2021.008 · Cited by 2
Game-Theoretic Models of Moral and Other-Regarding Agents (extended abstract)
Istrate, G. (2021) · Electronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science · doi:10.4204/eptcs.335.19 · Cited by 1
Basslines, brains, bits, bytes, and burgers: Working with, and within the limits to, Marxism
Fraser, A. (2021) · Human Geography · doi:10.1177/19427786211037064 · Cited by 1
“My main guide has been Tomasello (2014, 2016, 2019), with other authors consulted at various stages.”
BackgroundPhilosophical and Political Considerations
Molander, P. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-93189-6_9 · Cited by 1
Otteson, J. R. (2019) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190914202.003.0010 · Cited by 1
Herde und Leithammel: Diffusion von Verantwortung
Hasebrook, J. P., Hackl, B., & Rodde, S. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-62054-0_11 · Cited by 1
Hasebrook, J. P., Hackl, B., & Rodde, S. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-62054-0_16 · Cited by 1
Ordonomischer Ansatz (Ingo Pies et al.)
Hielscher, S. (2022) · J.B. Metzler eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-476-05806-5_31 · Cited by 1
Jou, D. (2022) · Religions · doi:10.3390/rel13100951 · Cited by 9
Emotional landscape of politics
Rothert, A. (2022) · Society Register · doi:10.14746/sr.2022.6.4.04 · Cited by 1
Demeulenaere, P. (2021) · Hermann eBooks · doi:10.3917/herm.baech.2021.02.0087 · Cited by 1
Evolution of Primate Social Cognition
Tomasello, M., & Call, J. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198910626.003.0006 · Cited by 1
Self-citationInference Belief and Interpretation in SciencePreprint
Lahiri, A. (2020) · PhilSci-Archive (University of Pittsburgh) · doi:10.23668/psycharchives.4284 · Cited by 4
Communities of Judgment : Towards a Teleosemantic Theory of Moral Thought and Discourse
Bergman, K. G. (2019) · Uppsala University Publications (Uppsala University) · Cited by 1
Game-theoretic Models of Moral and Other-Regarding AgentsPreprint
Istrate, G. (2020) · arXiv (Cornell University) · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2012.09759 · Cited by 3
A Theory of Cooperation in Games with an Application to Market SocialismPreprint
Roemer, J. E. (2018) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3144060 · Cited by 1
THE ORIGIN OF MORALITY AND THE MAKING OF THE MORAL PREDICAMENTPreprint
Shkliarevsky, G. (2021) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3953715 · Cited by 1
“(Tomasello, 201 8, p. 72; Tomasello, 2016) In his book A Natural History of Human Morality Tomasello emphasizes what he thinks is a crucial difference between humans and animals.”
Oatley, K. (2013) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/obo/9780199828340-0131 · Cited by 2
Wong, D. B. (2019) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781444367072.wbiee671.pub2 · Cited by 2
The ABC of social learning: Affect, Behaviour and CognitionPreprint
Gruber, T., Bazhydai, M., Sievers, C., Clément, F., & Dukes, D. (2020) · PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/wyhp7 · Cited by 2
Straume, L. V., & Vittersø, J. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1469-1 · Cited by 1
Interaction and Ostension: The myth of 4th order IntentionalityPreprint
Sievers, C. (2022) · doi:10.31219/osf.io/fxuth · Cited by 1
Lupu, N., & Pontusson, J. (2023) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781009428682.017
Influence of Agent's Strategy on Individual's Cognition and Decision Making
Oasa, K., Shimojo, S., & Hayashi, Y. (2025) · International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction (HAI) · doi:10.1145/3765766.3765794
Consumer Choice as Decision: Meso-Cognitive Psychology
Foxall, G. R. (2016) · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks · doi:10.1057/978-1-137-50121-9_10
Pasquinelli, E. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-47130-3_19
do Nascimento, E. R., & Vilela, C. (2016) · Revista Ágora Filosófica · doi:10.25247/p1982-999x.2016.v1n3.p16-28
Punishment and Human Sociality
Dearing, A. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-45048-3_2
Rottschaefer, W. A. (2017) · Cognitive Systems Research · doi:10.1016/j.cogsys.2017.06.001
“Turning to ontogeny, developmental and comparative psychologist Michael Tomasello and his colleagues (Tomasello, 1999, 2009, 2014, 2016; Tomasello et al., 2005) maintain that a basic source for these achievements is humans’ capacity for we-intentionality, an ability to form supra-personal normative…”
BackgroundWorld Netizenship or Barbarism
Hofkirchner, W. (2017) · doi:10.3390/is4si-2017-03945
Narrative and Affect in Epic, Romance, and the Novel
Wehrs, D. R. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-63303-9_16
From Bateman to Rat Man: American Psycho’s Unnatural Selections
Haynes, D. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-63303-9_30
Darwinian humility : epistemological applications of evolutionary science
Saillant, S. (2017) · DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
O'Neill, E. (2018) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x18000134
Der Metaethische Konativismus: Versuch einer Neubelebung
Fischer, S. (2018) · Zeitschrift für Ethik und Moralphilosophie · doi:10.1007/s42048-018-0004-1
Rowe, B. (2018) · The American Journal of Psychology · doi:10.5406/amerjpsyc.131.3.0389
Viegas, J. (2018) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1812244115 · Cited by 1
“In a 2008 article, Call and Tomasello (16) interpreted these findings as indicating that the key difference between chimpanzee and human cognition is that apes have a kind of perception–goal psychology, whereas humans have a full-blown belief–desire psychology, implying that nonhuman primates do…”
BackgroundRoughley, N. (2018) · Philosophical Psychology · doi:10.1080/09515089.2018.1486602
“As such, his account might be thought to be compatible with Tomasello’s purely descriptive account, which describes the moral dispositions of contemporary humans – as from about 10,000 years ago – as a patchwork of motives with various etiologies (Tomasello, 2016, p. 128).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialCognitive Pragmatics and Evolutionism
Pennisi, A., & Falzone, A. (2019) · Perspectives in pragmatics, psychology & philosophy · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-00973-1_4
Der Mensch zwischen Natur und Norm
Spiegel, I. (2019) · Interdisziplinäre Anthropologie · doi:10.1007/978-3-658-24869-7_11
Otteson, J. R. (2019) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190914202.003.0002
The Proper Context of Business
Otteson, J. R. (2019) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190914202.003.0003
Otteson, J. R. (2019) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190914202.003.0005
Honorable Business and Valuing What We Ought
Otteson, J. R. (2019) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190914202.003.0009
Otteson, J. R. (2019) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190914202.003.0004
Honorable Business and Treating People the Right Way
Otteson, J. R. (2019) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190914202.003.0008
Theatricality in Deep History and the Human Brain
Pizzato, M. (2019) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-12727-5_1
Steps to a Naturalistic Account of Human Deontology
Carassa, A., Colombetti, M., & ProtoSociology Project (2018) · ProtoSociology · doi:10.5840/protosociology2018352
“A comprehensive natural history of human deontology has yet to be written; however, there are important contributions to a natural history of morality (Curry, 2004; Tomasello and Vaish, 2013; Tomasello, 2016), which is a substantial part of human deontology, even if it does not exhaust it.”
BackgroundEkardt, F. (2019) · Environmental humanities: transformation, governance, ethics, law · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-19277-8_1
Review of Becoming Human: A Theory of Ontogeny by Michael Tomasello
Packer, M. J. (2019) · Human Development · doi:10.1159/000501879
Thinking and Morality as a Form of Cooperation in the Light of the Conception of Michael Tomasello
Żuromski, D. (2017) · Kultura i Edukacja · doi:10.15804/kie.2017.02.04
“Although it explains many different and intriguing behaviours in animals living in communities, such as ants and bees, ”kin selection was not a likely breeding ground for many complex cognitive distinctions and judgments underlying human morality” (Tomasello, 2016a, p. 11).”
InfluentialSentimiento de culpa deontológico y sentimiento de culpa altruista: una tesis dualista
Mancini, F., & Gangemi, A. (2019) · Revista de Psicoterapia
Solli, H. M., & da Silva, A. B. (2019) · Etikk i praksis - Nordic Journal of Applied Ethics · doi:10.5324/eip.v13i2.2911
“Studies of the natural history of human morality have shown that the two different perspectives have been fundamental to the evolution of cooperation among humans (Tomasello 2016: 1-5).”
BackgroundSCIENCE, KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING: WITTGENSTEIN BETWEEN PHENOMENOLOGY AND POSITIVISM
Beran, O. (2019) · HORIZON / Fenomenologicheskie issledovanija/ STUDIEN ZUR PHÄNOMENOLOGIE / STUDIES IN PHENOMENOLOGY / ÉTUDES PHÉNOMÉNOLOGIQUES · doi:10.21638/2226-5260-2019-8-2-460-486
“…a more explicit manner even to Wittgenstein, who was also one of the role models of the heralded 5 Cf. the very diff erent accounts of morality in Tomasello (2016), for whom morality is a sophistication of practical mechanisms of problem-solving and effi cient cooperation in communities; and in…”
BackgroundEvolution and the Objectivity of Moral JudgmentsPreprint
Hopster, J. K. G., & Klenk, M. (2019) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3500683
Simpson, E. (2019) · Journal of Philosophy of Emotion · doi:10.33497/jpe.v1i1.12
“RATIONALITY VS. NORM CONFORMITY IN TOMASELLO’S FINDINGS Tomasello’s natural histories of human thinking (Tomasello 2014) and morality (Tomasello 2016) both develop an account of mental attributes that human beings share with great apes and our immediate common ancestors.”
BackgroundPodemos naturalizar a dignidade humana?
Júnior, J. C. (2020) · Investigação Filosófica · doi:10.18468/if.2019v10n2.p135-139
Metaethics for Neo-Pragmatists: A Pragmatic Account of Linguistic Meaning for Moral Vocabulary
Wilk, T. (2019) · PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation)
Fundamentos del psicoanálisis relacional: Filogenia y ontogenia
Cortina, M. (2020) · Clínica e Investigación Relacional · doi:10.21110/19882939.2020.140101
Governance and Societal Normativity
Wieland, J. (2020) · Relational economics and organization governance · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-45112-7_4
Relational Contracts and Goods
Wieland, J. (2020) · Relational economics and organization governance · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-45112-7_3
A tribe called Europe? An “emotional” perception of reality
Rothert, A. (2018) · Przegląd europejski · doi:10.31338/1641-2478pe.4.17.6
Methodological Individualism and Collective Representations
Demeulenaere, P. (2023) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-41508-1_2
Comportamento moral e responder relacional
Vasconcelos, Í. G. (2020) · doi:10.11606/t.47.2020.tde-28052020-193507
The Universal Information Processing System and Educational Theories and Practices
Woolcott, G. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-15-7051-3_8
Woolcott, G. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-15-7051-3_5
Introduction. The Evolutionary Approach to Ethics: From Animal Prosociality to Human Morality.
Bertini, D. (2020) · European Journal for Philosophy of Religion · doi:10.24204/ejpr.v12i3.3411
“Young, “The Biology of Mammalian Parenting and its Effect on Offspring Social Development”, Science 345, no. 6198 (2014). 12 David S.”
BackgroundPies, I. (2019) · Journal for Markets and Ethics · doi:10.2478/jome-2019-0005
Another Attempt to Answer Our Question
Gee, J. P. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-50382-6_14
Experiments in Business Ethics
Botha, H. (2017)
Sjåstad, H. (2019) · Scientific Research of Faculty of Economics Electronic Journal · doi:10.38050/2078-3809-2019-11-4-46-73 · Cited by 2
“erate to a greater extent than other primates (Henrich & Henrich, 2007; Suddendorf, 2013; Tomasello, 2016), and typically secure survival and reproduction through social means (Baumeister, 2005; Sloman & Fernbach, 2017).”
BackgroundInfluentialProblemy z moralnością zwierząt
Waleszczyński, A. (2020) · Argument Biannual Philosophical Journal · doi:10.24917/20841043.10.1.9
Vuong, T. K., Chan, H. F., & Torgler, B. (2021) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3768232
Comments on the Autobiographies of the World War II Babies by Younger Peers
Nagin, D. S., Hay, D. F., Eisner, M., Welsh, B. C., Côté, S. M., & Ouellet‐Morin, I. (2021) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108877138.014
Dostoevsky, Confession, and the Evolutionary Origins of Conscience
Dolack, T. (2020) · Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture · doi:10.26613/esic.4.2.187
What Makes Us Human? Evolution, Intentionality and Moral Progress
Corradetti, C. (2021) · Jus Cogens · doi:10.1007/s42439-021-00034-5
The Pleistocene Social Contract
Sterelny, K. (2021) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197531389.003.0002
Biopower, Biopolitics, Biosemiotics: Entangling Mortalities and Moralities
Anderson, M., & Bisanz, E. (2021) · Recherches sémiotiques · doi:10.7202/1076233ar
Cooperation in Hierarchical Communities
Sterelny, K. (2021) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197531389.003.0004
Queloz, M. (2021) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198868705.003.0003
Loosening the Need-Concept Tie
Queloz, M. (2021) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198868705.003.0006
A Political and Ameliorative State of Nature
Queloz, M. (2021) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198868705.003.0008
Ideas as Remedies to Inconveniences
Queloz, M. (2021) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198868705.003.0004
Queloz, M. (2021) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198868705.003.0010
Queloz, M. (2021) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198868705.003.0001
Sterelny, K. (2021) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197531389.003.0005
Sterelny, K. (2021) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197531389.003.0003
Conclusion: Ecstasy and the Decay of Ecstasy
Everdell, W. R. (2021) · Boston studies in philosophy, religion and public life · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-69762-4_10
Developing Revenge in Early Childhood
Baxley, C. P., & Dahl, A. (2021) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108776684.004
Metadata
- Authors
- Tomasello, M.
- Affiliations
- Max Planck Society (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Tomasello, Michael
- ORCID
- Tomasello, Michael
- Venue
- Harvard University Press eBooks
- Publisher
- Harvard University Press
- Published
- 2016-12-31
- OpenAlex
- W791834320
- Cited by
- 924
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 71 · 2025: 78 · 2024: 95 · 2023: 94 · 2022: 117 · 2021: 151 · 2020: 88 · 2019: 89 · 2018: 65 · 2017: 63 · 2016: 11
- FWCI
- 39.50
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Harvard University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Keywords
- human morality, moral psychology, evolution of morality, great apes, children, cooperation, social cognition, comparative psychology
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
