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The Evolution of Cooperative Behavior and Its Implications for Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Stephen G. Morris
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Abstract

While many philosophers agree that evolutionary theory has important implications for the study of ethics, there has been no consensus on what these implications are. I argue that we can better understand these implications by examining two related yet distinct issues in evolutionary theory: the evolution of our moral beliefs and the evolution of cooperative behavior. While the prevailing evolutionary account of morality poses a threat to moral realism, a plausible model of how altruism evolved in human beings provides the grounding for a research program that focuses on achieving some of the more practical goals shared by ethicists.

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Type
Research Article
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Philosophy of Science , Volume 76 , Issue 5 , December 2009 , pp. 915 - 926
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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