Converging evidence from disciplines including sociobiology, evolutionary psychology and human biology forces us to adopt a new idea of what it means to be a human. As cherished concepts such as free will, naïve realism, humans as creation's crowning glory fall and our moral roots in ape group dynamics become clearer, we have to take leave of many concepts that have been central to defining our humanness. What emerges is a new human, the homo novus, a human being without illusions. Leading authors from many different fields explore these issues by addressing a range of illusions and providing evidence for the need, despite considerable reluctance, to relinquish some of our most cherished ideas about ourselves.

Humans Are Exceptional

The Position of Man in the Cosmos
Living Differences
Nothing to Talk About
We Are Independent of Our Sociobiological Roots
The True Egoist Is Cooperative
The Social Brain and Its Implications
Why Most Theories Get It Wrong
The Biological Imperative Doesn't Matter to Us
Mortality Crises and Their Consequences for Human Life Histories
Costs and Consequences of Reproduction
Height and Reproductive Success
The Past Doesn't Echo in Our Heads
Developmental Psychology Without Dualistic Illusions
The Psychology of Families
Moral, Religion and Culture Are Social Constructions
Moral Normativity Is (Naturally) Grown
The Origins of Symbolic Culture
Belief in Melanesia
We Are Free in What We Want
Free Will
Could I Have Done Otherwise?
Epilogue
Modern Illusions of Humankind.