Description
Book SynopsisThis interdisciplinary collection presents novel theories, includes provocative re-workings of longstanding arguments, and offers a healthy cross-pollination of ideas to the morality literature. Structures, functions, and content of morality are reconsidered as cultural, religious, and political components are added to the standard biological/environmental mix. Innovative concepts such as the Periodic Table of Ethics and evidence for morality in non-human species illuminate areas for further discussion and research. And some of the book’s contributors question premises we hold dear, such as morality as a product of reason, the existence of moral truths, and the motto “life is good.”
Highlights of the coverage:
- The tripartite theory of Machiavellian morality: judgment, influence, and conscience as distinct moral adaptations.
- Prosocial morality from a biological, cultural, and developmental perspective.
- The containment problem and the evolutionary debunking of morality.
- A comparative perspective on the evolution of moral behavior.
- A moral guide to depravity: religiously-motivated violence and sexual selection.
- Game theory and the strategic logic of moral intuitions.
The Evolution of Morality makes a stimulating supplementary text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in the evolutionary sciences, particularly in psychology, biology, anthropology, sociology, political science, religious studies, and philosophy
Table of ContentsPart I: Psychological Design and Development.- The Tripartite Theory of Machiavellian Morality: Judgment, Influence, and Conscience as Distinct Moral Adaptations.- Morality as Cooperation: A Problem-Centered Approach.- An Evolving and Developing Field of Study: Prosocial Morality from a Biological, Cultural, and Developmental Perspective.- Part II: Philosophy and Ethics.- Evolutionary Awareness: A Metacognitive Framework for Ethics.- The Containment Problem and the Evolutionary Debunking of Morality.- Life is Not Good.- Antinatalism in Biological and Cultural Evolution: Fertility and Suicide.- Part III: Animal Behavior and Comparative Psychology.- A Comparative Perspective on the Evolution of Moral Behavior.- Helping Another in Distress: Lessons from Rats.- Part IV: Religious beliefs and behavior.- A Moral Guide to Depravity: Religiously-Motivated Violence and Sexual Selection.- Disentangling Religion and Morality: An Analysis of religiosity in the United States.- Part V: Politics, Law, and Game Theory.- The Evolved Functions of Procedural Fairness: An Adaptation for Politics.- Property Law Reflections of a Sense of Right and Wrong.- Game Theory and Morality.
