# Allen Buchanan **Domain:** Philosophy / moral evolution **Doc Type:** Person Node **Maturity:** Developing ## Definition **Allen Buchanan** is a philosopher whose interview about *Our Moral Fate* separates evolved groupishness from the social conditions that make exclusionary tribalism more or less likely. He argues that moral potential includes inclusion, and that institutional design can influence which potential is realized. ## Relationships - **Interviewed by:** Philip Laughlin in [the MIT Press Reader (2021)](https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/our-moral-fate-allen-buchanan-on-escaping-tribalism/), discussing his book *Our Moral Fate: Evolution and the Escape from Tribalism*. - **Conceptual relation:** [[wiki/Human Animality|Human Animality]] distinguishes inherited tendencies from institutional outcomes; [[wiki/Dehumanization|Dehumanization]] names a possible extreme of dismissing an out-group. - **Constructive article comparison:** [[articles/Walking the Beautiful Path Through the Greatest Transformation in Human History|Walking the Beautiful Path Through the Greatest Transformation in Human History]] addresses active human transformation; it does not attribute Bryant's program to Buchanan. ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > “Groupishness is in our genes. We will always tend to divide the world into Us and Them and tend to think We are superior. But if we construct the right social environment, we can avoid tribalism in its more extreme, harmful forms.” > **— Allen Buchanan**, *MIT Press Reader interview, 2021* [[reminders/Human Animality/Our Social Environment Can Restrain Tribalism by Allen Buchanan|Our Social Environment Can Restrain Tribalism by Allen Buchanan]] ## Sources - [Philip Laughlin, interview with Allen Buchanan, MIT Press Reader (2021)](https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/our-moral-fate-allen-buchanan-on-escaping-tribalism/).