through a glass darkly: blog 
through a glass darkly's blog
evolution of moral behavior
Published Apr. 12, 2008
A couple of weeks ago, Francisco Ayala gave a talk on the NCSU campus with this title. Francisco Ayala is one of the foremost defenders of evolution in the US today.
In summary, he mentioned that in order to have morality, a species has to have evolved both biologically and culturally. He mentioned three biological attributes individuals must have:
- The ability to see the consequences of their actions.
- The free will to change behavior (as opposed to instinct).
- The ability to distinguish between right and wrong (or, good and evil).
The cultural parts were more numerous, and not as well defined. The main one I remember is:
- Have evolved a symbolic language.
The question he posed was what time in the past had these biological, then cultural attributes evolved? I suspect it would be at about the same time as religion started to evolve.
He also wondered whether morality is selectively advantageous. He brought up the usual example of the social insects. While not moral by his definition, they do exhibit altruistic behavior. They are the only species with haplo-diploid sex determination. An interesting correlation.
Interesting ideas, particularly in this time as we look at the differences and commonalities among the world's religions in terms of morality.
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I don't believe the actual morality is 'genetically determined', just the ability to have morality. Behaviors that were the norm some time ago are now thought to be immoral -- not because of biological evolution, but because of cultural evolution. I suspect that will change in the future, and some generations distant from today will look down on our behavior today as 'barbaric'.
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April 14, 2008 2:49 p.m.
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April 13, 2008 12:30 p.m.
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April 13, 2008 11:48 a.m.
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April 12, 2008 11:07 p.m.
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April 12, 2008 10:58 p.m.
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April 12, 2008 10:12 p.m.
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