Books by Brights
Less Than Human: Solving the Puzzle of Dehumanization
Author: David Livingstone Smith, PhD
ISBN-10: 1250003830
ISBN-13: 978-1250003836
To Purchase: Amazon USA / Amazon UK
Description
Less Than Human is a book about our pervasive tendency to conceive of other human beings as subhuman creatures - as vermin, parasites, predators or prey - and the role that this plays in genocide, war, slavery and other forms of atrocity. Drawing on an interdisciplinary mix of history, anthropology, psychology, primatology and philosophy, Less Than Human traces the history of the concept of dehumanization from ancient Greece to the present, and gives an analysis of what exactly is going on when we regard our fellow human beings as less than human. It will be published in March 2011 by St. Martin's Press, and is available for pre-order from Amazon.
About the Author
Dr. David Livingstone Smith is professor of philosophy and cofounder and director of the Institute for Cognitive Science and Evolutionary Psychology at the University of New England. He and his wife live in Portland, Maine.