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Revisiting the spaces of societies and the cooperation that sustains them

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 April 2025

James Brooks Open the ORCID record for James Brooks [Opens in a new window]  and
Liran Samuni Open the ORCID record for Liran Samuni [Opens in a new window]
James Brooks*
Affiliation:
Cooperative Evolution Lab, German Primate Center, Göttingen, Germany jamesgerardbrooks@gmail.com lsamuni@dpz.eu Institute for Advanced Study, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Liran Samuni
Affiliation:
Cooperative Evolution Lab, German Primate Center, Göttingen, Germany jamesgerardbrooks@gmail.com lsamuni@dpz.eu
*
*Corresponding author.
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Abstract

We embrace Moffett's call for more rigorous definitions of social organizations but raise two intersecting critiques: (1) The spaces controlled by societies are not exclusively physical, and (2) cooperation is required to maintain control over spaces, physical or otherwise. We discuss examples of non-physical societal spaces across species and highlight the top-down group cooperation challenge that is maintaining them.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 48 , 2025 , e58
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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