Biological and Cultural Evolution as Components of Ethical Behavior

Francisco J. AyalaUniversity of California, Irvine

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 system—with all these exalted powers—Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.

Charles DarwinThe Descent of Man, and Selection in

Relation to Sex

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.

Moral realism: There are moral facts. Our moral judgments are made true or false by the moral facts.

Divine command: God’s 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.

Metaethical Doctrines

St. Thomas Aquinas:Three components of moral law

Divine commande.g., Worship only one God

Love your neighbor

Natural lawe.g., Don’t kill

Don’t commit adultery

Civil authoritye.g., Respect private

property Pay taxes

Evolutionary ethics:Herbert SpencerJulian HuxleyC.H. WaddingtonE.O. Wilson: SociobiologyEvolutionary psychology

Herbert Spencer: Social DarwinismStruggle for existence determines evolutionary progressMoral law = Struggle for existence

Critique (Thomas Huxley): Naturalistic fallacyIdentifying what “is” with what “ought to be”

(D. Hume, 1740; G.E. Moore, 1903)

Evolutionary ethics:

Evolutionary ethics:

Julian Huxley, Evolution and Ethics, 1947

C.H. Waddington, The Ethical Animal, 1960

Evolutionary ethics:

Sociobiology. On Human Nature, 1977

Evolutionary psychology

An animal with well-defined social instincts —like parental and filial affections—‘‘would 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

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. . . . [T]hey might have a sense of right and wrong, though led by it to follow widely different lines of conduct.

Darwin, Descent of Man

Ethics1. Capacity for ethics

(evaluating actions as good or evil)

2. Codes of ethics (norms by which we judge a particular action)

Ethics1. Capacity for

ethics (evaluating actions as good or evil)

2. Codes of ethics (norms by which we judge a particular action)

Language1. Capacity for

symbolic verbal communication

2. Particular languages: English, Spanish, Arabic, …

1.Ability to anticipate the consequences of one’s actions

2.Ability to make value judgments

3.Ability to choose between alternative courses of action

Capacity for ethics(evaluating actions as good or evil)

1.Ability to anticipate the consequences of one’s actions

Capacity for ethics(evaluating actions as good or evil)

Bipedal

Gait

ToolMaking

EnlargedBrain

1.Ability to anticipate the consequences of one’s actions

2.Ability to make value judgments

Capacity for ethics(evaluating actions as good or evil)

1.Ability to anticipate the consequences of one’s actions

2.Ability to make value judgments

3.Ability to choose between alternative courses of action

Capacity for ethics(evaluating actions as good or evil)

Ethics

1. Capacity for ethics (evaluating actions as good or evil)

2. Codes of ethics (norms by which we judge a particular action)

Ethics1. Capacity for

ethics (evaluating actions as good or evil)

2. Codes of ethics (norms by which we judge a particular action)

Language1. Capacity for

symbolic verbal communication

2. Particular languages: English, Spanish, Arabic, …

Codes of ethics (norms by which we judge a particular action): Cultural evolution

Heredity + Variation + Differential reproduction (natural selection) = Evolution

Variation among individualsVariation among groupsVariation from one to another

time

Codes of ethics (norms by which we judge a particular action):

Cultural selection: imitation, learning, assimilation

Example: monotheism

Moses and the Ten Commandments

Enforced by civil authorityReinforced by divine authority

Codes of ethics:

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).

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

Conclusions

Capacity of ethics: Biological evolution

Codes of ethics: Cultural evolution (including religion)

Darwin’s 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

Thank you!