Biological and Cultural Evolution as Components of Ethical Behavior

1
Biological and Cultural Evolution as Components
of Ethical Behavior

• Francisco J. Ayala
• University of California, Irvine

2
Charles Darwin The Descent of Man, and Selection
in Relation to Sex
We must acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man
with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which
feels for the most debased, with benevolence
which extends not only to other men but to the
humblest living creature, with his god-like
intellect which has penetrated into the movements
and constitution of the solar systemwith all
these exalted powersMan still bears in his
bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly
origin.
3
(No Transcript)
4
(No Transcript)
5
Metaethics Why we ought to do what we ought to
do. Normative ethics What we ought to
do. Practical ethics Moral norms applied to
particular situations.
6
Metaethical Doctrines
Moral realism There are moral facts. Our moral
judgments are made true or false by the moral
facts. Divine command Gods commanding is what
makes a particular action moral. Utilitarianism
Does the most expected good to the largest number
of people. Positivism No rational foundations
for morality. Emotional decisions or social
agreement. Libertarianism Maximize personal
freedom.
7
St. Thomas AquinasThree components of moral law

• Divine command
• e.g., Worship only one God
• Love your neighbor
• Natural law
• e.g., Dont kill
• Dont commit adultery
• Civil authority
• e.g., Respect private property
• Pay taxes

8
(No Transcript)
9
Evolutionary ethics

• Herbert Spencer
• Julian Huxley
• C.H. Waddington
• E.O. Wilson Sociobiology
• Evolutionary psychology

10
Evolutionary ethics

• Herbert Spencer Social Darwinism
• Struggle for existence determines evolutionary
  progress
• Moral law Struggle for existence
• Critique (Thomas Huxley) Naturalistic fallacy
• Identifying what is with what ought to be
• (D. Hume, 1740 G.E. Moore, 1903)

11
Evolutionary ethics

• Julian Huxley, Evolution and Ethics, 1947
• C.H. Waddington, The Ethical Animal, 1960

12
Evolutionary ethics

• Sociobiology. On Human Nature, 1977
• Evolutionary psychology

13
(No Transcript)
14
An animal with well-defined social instincts
like parental and filial affectionswould
inevitably acquire a moral sense or conscience,
as soon as its intellectual powers had become as
well, or nearly as well developed, as in man.
Darwin, Descent of Man
15
I do not wish to maintain that any strictly
social animal, if its intellectual faculties were
to become as active and as highly developed as in
man, would acquire the same moral sense as ours.
. . . They might have a sense of right and
wrong, though led by it to follow widely
different lines of conduct. Darwin, Descent
of Man
16
Ethics

1. Capacity for ethics (evaluating actions as good
   or evil)
2. Codes of ethics (norms by which we judge a
   particular action)

17

• Ethics
• Capacity for ethics (evaluating actions as good
  or evil)
• Codes of ethics (norms by which we judge a
  particular action)

• Language
• Capacity for symbolic verbal communication
• Particular languages English, Spanish, Arabic,

18
Capacity for ethics(evaluating actions as good
or evil)

1. Ability to anticipate the consequences of ones
   actions
2. Ability to make value judgments
3. Ability to choose between alternative courses of
   action

19
Capacity for ethics(evaluating actions as good
or evil)

• Ability to anticipate the consequences of ones
  actions

20
Tool Making
Enlarged Brain
Bipedal Gait
21
Capacity for ethics(evaluating actions as good
or evil)

• Ability to anticipate the consequences of ones
  actions
• Ability to make value judgments

22
Capacity for ethics(evaluating actions as good
or evil)

1. Ability to anticipate the consequences of ones
   actions
2. Ability to make value judgments
3. Ability to choose between alternative courses of
   action

23
Ethics

1. Capacity for ethics (evaluating actions as good
   or evil)
2. Codes of ethics (norms by which we judge a
   particular action)

24

• Ethics
• Capacity for ethics (evaluating actions as good
  or evil)
• Codes of ethics (norms by which we judge a
  particular action)

• Language
• Capacity for symbolic verbal communication
• Particular languages English, Spanish, Arabic,

25
Codes of ethics (norms by which we judge a
particular action) Cultural evolution
26
Heredity Variation Differential reproduction
(natural selection) Evolution
27
Codes of ethics (norms by which we judge a
particular action)

• Variation among individuals
• Variation among groups
• Variation from one to another time

28
Codes of ethics

• Cultural selection imitation, learning,
  assimilation
• Example monotheism
• Moses and the Ten Commandments
• Enforced by civil authority
• Reinforced by divine authority

29
Cultural evolution vastly more efficient means
of adaptation than biological evolution.

• More rapid. Potentially to all mankind in less
  than one generation.
• Directed mutations (inventions and discoveries),
  which occur at high frequency.
• Cumulative. Adaptations added without
  replacement.
• Group selection. Humans take into account the
  benefits to the group (because it also benefits
  them).

30
Conclusions

• Capacity of ethics Biological evolution
• Codes of ethics Cultural evolution
  (including religion)

31
Darwins Moral Optimism There can be no doubt
that a tribe including many members who, from
possessing in a high degree the spirit of
patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage, and
sympathy, were always ready to give aid to each
other and to sacrifice themselves for the common
good, would be victorious over most other tribes
and this would be natural selection. At all times
throughout the world tribes have supplanted other
tribes and as morality is one element in their
success, the standard of morality and the number
of well-endowed men will thus everywhere tend to
rise and increase. Darwin, Descent of Man
32

• Thank you!

33
(No Transcript)