An Introduction to Evolutionary Ethics

Introduction: A Philosopher and a Biologist Walk into a Bar . . . 1

Part I. From “Selfish Genes” to Moral Beings: Moral Psychology after Darwin 7

1 Natural Selection and Human Nature 11

1.1 The Basic Story 11

1.2 Some Common Misunderstandings 15

1.3 Mother Nature as Tinkerer 16

1.4 Evolutionary Psychology and Human Nature 18

1.5 An Evolved Mental Tool-Box 19

1.6 Some (More) Common Misunderstandings 21

1.7 Conclusion 26

2 The (Earliest) Roots of Right 29

2.1 Together We Stand? 30

2.2 Inclusive Fitness and the “Gene’s-Eye” Point of View 32

2.3 Love Thy Neighbor – But Love Thy Family First 35

2.4 False Positives and Core Systems 37

2.5 A Quick Note on “Altruism” 39

2.6 Reciprocal Altruism 40

2.7 Conclusion 45

3 The Caveman’s Conscience: The Evolution of Human Morality 48

3.1 What Makes Moral Creatures Moral 49

3.2 The Evolution of Morality 57

3.3 Explaining the Nature of Moral Judgments 62

3.4 Conclusion 64

4 Just Deserts 66

4.1 The Ultimatum Game 67

4.2 The Public Goods Game 69

4.3 Winners Don’t Punish 71

4.4 The Benefits of Guilt 74

4.5 A Lamb among Lions? 77

4.6 An Explanation for All of Morality? 79

4.7 Universal Morality or Universal Reason? 81

4.8 Conclusion 84

5 The Science of Virtue and Vice 87

5.1 Distress Test 89

5.2 Mind-Reading 95

5.3 “Them’s the Rules” 98

5.4 Moral Innateness and the Linguistic Analogy 100

5.5 Switchboards, Biases, and Affective Resonances 105

5.6 Non-Nativist Doubts 110

5.7 Conclusion 112

Part II. From “What Is” to “What Ought To Be”: Moral Philosophy after Darwin 117

6 Social Harmony: The Good, the Bad, and the Biologically Ugly 121

6.1 From the Great Chain of Being, to the Tree of Life, to Morality 121

6.2 Uprooting the Tree of Life 126

7 Hume’s Law 132

7.1 Deductively Valid Arguments 133

7.2 You Can’t Get Out What You Don’t Put In 136

7.3 “Of the Last Consequence” 137

7.4 Blocking the Move from Might to Right 138

7.5 Darwinism and Preserving the Human Species 140

7.6 Conclusion 141

8 Moore’s Naturalistic Fallacy 143

8.1 The Open Question Test 144

8.2 Failing the Open Question Test: Desiring to Desire 145

8.3 Failing the Open Question Test: Spencer 146

8.4 Failing the Open Question Test: Wilson 147

8.5 Conclusion 148

9 Rethinking Moore and Hume 150

9.1 Some Preliminary Doubts about the Open Question Test 150

9.2 What Things Mean vs. What Things Are 152

9.3 Implications for Social Darwinism 153

9.4 Forays across the Is/Ought Gap: Searle 154

9.5 Forays across the Is/Ought Gap: Rachels 155

9.6 Conclusion 159

10 Evolutionary Anti-Realism: Early Efforts 161

10.1 This Is Your Brain on God 165

10.2 Preliminaries 167

10.3 Wilson 168

10.4 The Argument from Idiosyncrasy 170

10.5 The Argument from Redundancy 171

10.6 Causation, Justification, and . . . a Rotting Corpse 173

10.7 Conclusion 175

11 Contemporary Evolutionary Anti-Realism 178

11.1 Napoleon Pills 178

11.2 A Darwinian Dilemma 181

11.3 Conclusion 185

12 Options for the Evolutionary Realist 187

12.1 Option 1: Learning Right from Wrong 189

12.2 Option 2: Response Dependency 190

12.3 Option 3: Virtue Ethics Naturalized 193

12.4 Option 4: Moral Constructivism 198

12.5 Objections to the Realist Options 203

12.6 Conclusion 207

Notes 211

References 218

Index 225