The Biology of Moral Systems

by Alexander,Richard

• ISBN13: 9780202011738
• ISBN10: 0202011739
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781351329293
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1987-12-31
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Crammed with sage observations on moral dilemmas and many reasons why an understanding of evolution based on natural selection will advance thinking in finding practical solutions to our most difficult social problems.”—Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
Acknowledgments	xix
Biology and the Background of Moral Systems
The Evolutionary Approach	1	(32)
Introduction	1	(3)
Sociobiology and Ideology	4	(2)
Meanings and Misinterpretations	6	(7)
Proximate Causes and the Reductionism of Evolutionary Biology	13	(8)
The Problem of Culture	21	(9)
The Problem of Resistance to Self-Understanding	30	(3)
Human Interests and Their Conflicts: What Lifetimes Are About	33	(9)
What Are Human Interests?	34	(3)
Life Interests as Reproductive	37	(3)
Lifetimes as Effort	40	(2)
Reproduction and Senescence: Why Lifetimes Are Finite	42	(21)
The Older Theories of Senescence	43	(3)
Williams' Pleiotropic Theory of Senescence	46	(3)
The Nature and Extent of Pleiotropy	49	(3)
The General Shapes of Mortality Curves	52	(1)
The Effect of Mortality Rates on Senescence	53	(1)
Male and Female Mortality	54	(2)
Semelparity, Iteroparity, and Senescence	56	(3)
Parental Care and Offspring Replacement	59	(2)
The Wonderful One-Hoss Shay Effect	61	(2)
Summary	63	(1)
Reproduction and Cooperation: Special Cases	63	(14)
Genetic Individuality and Individuality of Interests	64	(1)
The Pinnacles of Ultrasociality: How They Evolved	65	(4)
Other Special Cases of Cooperation	69	(2)
Monogamy and Reproductive Opportunity Leveling	71	(2)
Conflicts of Interest and Deception in Communication	73	(4)
A Biological View of Morality
Conflicts and Confluences of Interest: A Theory of Moral Systems	77	(30)
Conflicts of Interests	77	(2)
Why Do Humans Live in Groups?	79	(2)
Classifying Human Effort: The ``Atoms'' of Sociality	81	(7)
Philosophy and Conflicts of Interest	88	(5)
Moral Systems as Systems of Indirect Reciprocity	93	(3)
Where Do Rules Come From	96	(1)
Discriminate and Indiscriminate Beneficence	97	(10)
Morality and the Human Psyche	107	(22)
Hypotheses About the Evolution of Consciousness	110	(4)
Consciousness and Deception	114	(3)
Self-Deception	117	(9)
Myths and Self-Images	126	(3)
Life History Theory and the Ontogeny of Moral Behavior	129	(10)
Introduction	130	(1)
Kohlberg's Stages, with an Evolutionary Hypothesis for Each	131	(8)
General Conclusions	139	(6)
Morality as Seen by Philosophers and Biologists
Introduction	145	(1)
The Moral Philosophers	146	(18)
Rationality and Self-Interest	146	(7)
Misunderstandings of Reciprocity	153	(8)
Proximate and Ultimate Mechanisms and Self-Sacrifice	161	(3)
The Biologist-Philosophers	164	(13)
The Naturalistic Fallacy	165	(3)
Darwin's Group Selection Theory and Fisher's Alternative	168	(2)
T. H. Huxley, and Morality as Contrary to Evolution	170	(1)
Darwin, Keith, and Human Evolution in Groups	171	(6)
The Philosophers of Biology	177	(3)
Morality and Law	180	(6)
Morality and Democracy	186	(4)
The Goal of Unviersal Beneficence	190	(3)
Summary	193	(1)
Conclusions	194	(3)
Applying the Biological View of Morality
Morality and Openness in the Pursuit of Truth: Science, Law, and God as the Models	197	(11)
Introduction	197	(3)
God and Science as Truth-Seeking	200	(7)
Summarizing Hypotheses	207	(1)
Modeling Value Systems and Maintaining Indirect Reciprocity	208	(19)
The Rights of Embryos and the Moribund	208	(8)
The Rights of Women and Men	216	(5)
The Rights of Children and Parents	221	(1)
The Perils of Error and Unrecognized Biases	222	(4)
Conclusions	226	(1)
Arms Races, Human and Otherwise	227	(26)
Human Arms Races Compared to Natural and Sexual Selection	227	(4)
Are There Precedents for Arms Race Resolutions?	231	(2)
Proposed Solutions to the International Arms Race	233	(4)
Knowledge of the Physical Universe, Ignorance of the Social One	237	(2)
Deception and Misinformation	239	(1)
Partial Brakes on the Arms Race	240	(13)
Conclusions	253	(6)
Epilogue	259	(6)
Bibliography	265	(16)
Name Index	281	(6)
Subject Index	287