Social Contract: A Personal Inquiry into the Evolutionary Sources of Order and Disorder

Starting in the late 50's and early 60's, Robert Ardrey (1908 - 1980) began exploding a series of philosophical landmines. AFRICAN GENESIS (1961) introduced his new evolutionary approach to an understanding of men. Then came THE TERRITORIAL IMPERATIVE (1966), whose title is now a common phrase in our language. THE SOCIAL CONTRACT is the third in the series, and it denies that men are created equal. Robert Ardrey maintains that since the publication of Rousseau's "Contrat social" two centuries ago, mean have wasted social resources, converted much of education into a process of brain-washing, committed themselves to one political insane asylum after another, all in pursuit of a goal that is a natural impossibility in any sexually reproducing species. He even denies that his thesis is controversial, since he is merely presenting a body of scientific proof for what we should all know anyway. Discarding the myth, Robert Ardrey combines his wealth of knowledge of animal ways with the new insights of modern biology and the newest revelations concerning human evolution to probe perplexing contemporary problems: the revolt of the young, the status struggle and the role of leadership, population control, urban overcrowding, and violence in civilized life. This brilliant book offers a powerful challenge to accustomed thought. This trilogy of books were instrumental in changing scientific doctrine and increasing public awareness of evolutionary science. Ardrey's work was so popular that many prominent scientists cite it as inspiring them to enter their fields.