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Abstract

In Michael Tomasello’s new book, The Evolution of Agency: Behavioral Organization from Lizards to Humans, it posits a close relationship between agency and the evolution of animal and human behavior. Tomasello adopts an integrated perspective, tracing ancient animals to early humans within the constraints of social norms. This book details a fascinating journey through the evolution of agency, therein presenting an innovatively comprehensive framework for analyzing processes of decision-making and behavioral control. Given the current interest in establishing connections among evolving individual agency, we think this book is a timely contribution, particularly for multidisciplinary researchers looking into the domain.

Keywords

Agency evolution feedback control goal-directed agent behavioral organization

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Imagine a lizard with the goal of making better decisions

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