Morality and Evolution by Group Selection

Http://Www.Bu.Edu/Wcp/Papers/TEth/TEthByro.Htm (1999)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Consider the paradox of altruism: the existence of truly altruistic behaviors is difficult to reconcile with an evolutionary theory which holds that natural selection operates only on individuals, since in that case individuals should be unwilling to sacrifice their own fitness for the sake of others. Evolutionists have frequently turned to the hypothesis of group selection to explain the existence of altruism; but, even setting aside difficulties about understanding the relationship between altruistic behaviors and morality, group selection cannot explain the evolution of morality, since morality is a one-group phenomenon and group selection is a many-group phenomenon. After spelling out just what the problem is, this paper discusses several ways out and concludes by offering suggestions why one seems best

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 103,449

External links

  • This entry has no external links. Add one.
Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Evolutionary Ethics and Biologically Supportable Morality.Michael Byron - 1998 - The Paideia Archive: Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy 44:23-28.
Précis of Unto Others.David Sloan Wilson & Elliott Sober - 2002 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 65 (3):681-684.
Why won't the group selection controversy go away?Samir Okasha - 2001 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 52 (1):25-50.
Morality and ‘Unto Others'. Response to commentary discussion. E. Sober & D. Wilson - 2000 - Journal of Consciousness Studies 7 (1-2):257-268.
The Evolution of Morality.John Teehan - 2010-03-19 - In Michael Boylan, In the Name of God. Wiley‐Blackwell. pp. 9–42.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
92 (#235,632)

6 months
92 (#69,445)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Michael Byron
Kent State University

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references