THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

Almost everyone applauds a good Samaritan, but this wasn’t always the case. Psychologist McCullough delivers a delightfully ingenious explanation of how we came around.

“Modern humans’ concern for the welfare of perfect strangers has no analog in the rest of the animal kingdom or even in our own history as a species,” writes the author. “It’s a true one-off.” An ant, wolf, lion, or chimpanzee who wanders into an unfamiliar group will be attacked and likely killed. Primitive humans were no different: “Our stone-age ancestors didn’t care very much at all about the well-being of true strangers.” Darwin maintained that natural selection evolved an instinct to help strangers in the hope of getting help in return and also to obtain praise from those around us. This instinct developed with the advance of civilization, during which culture, trade, and technology added to our capacity to reason and then refined our compassion. McCullough offers a superb history of charity. Ancient rulers and aristocrats paid little attention to the poor. Mostly arising during the first millennium B.C.E., world religions and philosophies gave rise to the golden rule; kindness to others became both virtuous and a mark of piety. Yet few doubted that poverty was “just another of life’s unpleasant inevitabilities” until after 1500, when urbanization and its accompanying squalor and disease convinced observers that it endangered social order, public health, and business, so government should take action. This gave rise to the first effective poor laws and national charitable institutions. By the 20th century, arguments for “natural rights and the dignity of all persons” produced both domestic social programs in developed nations and a steady stream of foreign aid. The 21st-century explosion of social media revolutionized philanthropy, allowing instant appeals and massive responses from “bathrobe humanitarians” sitting at their computers.

A deliciously provocative analysis of an entirely admirable human quality.