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by Baneblessed on November 14th, 2004

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How is morality related to evolution?

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  • by lynnenorth on October 19th, 2005

    lynnenorth

    In a way, chales is right -- evolution is not a comment on morality any more than Maxwell's Theory of Electromagnetism is. It is simply a description of processes at work in the natural world. Those who look to religion as the only possible source of morality seem to be able to extrapolate from these processes a conclusion that (a) if you accept evolution, you must stop believing in God, and (b) if you don't believe in God, you will have no reason to behave in a moral manner. Both of these are fallacies, simply not true on examination. Belief in the literal inerrancy of the Bible and an acceptance of evolution are mutually exclusive. Belief in God and an acceptance of evolution is perfectly feasible, and indeed many scientists do both. And there are good arguments for morality which go far beyond "fear of punishment and/or hope of reward" by any higher power.

    However, you could ask a closely related question, which is related to (b). That is: "Is there an evolutionary explanation for morality?"

    The answer is actually, "yes".

    Humans went down the "social cooperation" route for survival, as did most primates. It's actually safe to say that the typical primate pattern is to look to the group for protection; a group of 12 chimps can take on any predator in Africa and make it think twice, and even much smaller monkeys are capable of mobbing leopards to make them abandon a hunt. But living in a group carries a price -- you can't just kill whoever annoys you. Groups don't last long that way.

    One of the basic tenets of evolution is that there are often more organisms needing resources than there are resources to support them, which leads to competition. This does not disappear when you are living in a group, either. In fact, in some ways it can be worse, since it means that multiple individuals are likely to find the same resources at the same time. However, as just mentioned above, widespread bloodshed over who-gets-what isn't a good idea either.

    So conflict in a group has to be managed. There need to be ways of sorting out who-gets-what, who is entitled to do what (and to whom), and acceptable ways of dealing with anger and frustration -- and the idea is not to leave dead bodies behind, unless it is really, really necessary. If you think about it, this is a logical place for "morality" to start. And this is actually true for every social species on the planet, not just primate species but wolves, meerkats, elephants, you name it -- anything which lives in a group as a survival strategy.

    Primates, however, with their big, clever brains and half-decent memories, take it a step further. It isn't *just* about managing conflict any more; it becomes about behavior in general. If Joe over there starts screaming, and the other hairy apes look up and see that Joe is being dragged away into the forest by a leopard, and some of the hairy apes think, "hangonaminute, Joe's the one who always shares his bananas!", then they are more likely to leap to Joe's defense and go chuck things at the leopard until it drops him, than if they look up and think "Oh yeh, Joe's the grouchy bastard who bites us a lot" -- in which case, they are more likely to simply watch with interest as Joe gets dragged off to become leopard-lunch. Either way, it has definite implications for Joe's chances of survival and reproduction. At that point, it isn't enough to simply be able to manage conflict without bloody fights, you want other individuals to remember that you are good to have around and that they *like* you.

    And it isn't just direct, one-on-one interactions which stick in our big, clever brains. Primates (indeed, many mammals) are capable of watching Joe's interactions with Mike, Ralph, Harry, and Sue, and extrapolating what Joe's tendencies are. Individuals get reputations, and get treated accordingly. So individuals have even more motivation to watch their step.

    But it does even go beyond that. It IS actually important to help maintain the strength and unity of the group; it is beneficial not just for the individual but for the individual's kin. To this end it may even be "right" and beneficial for individuals to act in self-sacrificing ways; perhaps the individual is eliminated from the gene pool because of it, but that individual's family (most of whom will share a substantial portion of his genetic pattern) will be safer or in some way better off. And as soon as one starts adding even rudimentary intelligence and planning into the mix, well, you have the seed of a formal moral code.

    In this view, religion as a way of solidifying moral behaviour is actually a natural outgrowth of evolution!

    For further, very good discussions of how we might have inherited morality from an evolutionary background, I strongly recommend the books by Frans De Waal, an ethologist working at the Yerkes Institute. Many of his books can be found on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/002-0349561-5746426 .
    I've recommended his work before, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it again.

    Edit: Incidentally, the question of "who would reproduce more, the kamikaze or the coward?" is an interesting one -- and the answer, unhelpfully, is "both or neither, depending on the circumstance." Consider: the kamikaze is an obvious candidate for not reproducing at all, especially since kamikazes were drawn from unmarried young men. However, they frequently had surviving parents and siblings -- and because of their service, their family gained both status and financial reward, which in a time of famine and shortage had obvious implications for the survival of other minor children in the family. This is an example of what biologists and anthropologists both call "kin selection", self-sacrificing behavior that aided the survival of family, not necessarily offspring, but still those sharing a great deal of the individual's genes.

    Cowards, on the other hand, are almost universally despised across a wide variety of cultures, and it is not hard to see why. Cowards are unlikely to step up and take their share of the burden when it comes to a fight against another group; they are equally unlikely to be able to stand up against others within their group to claim a "fair share" of resources, if others want to bully them. Consequently, a coward is both an uncertain ally and an uncertain provider, and not likely to be valued as either -- and if *he* gets in trouble, it is not an absolute given that the rest of the group will go out of the way to help him, since they may have to make up their minds whether or not it is worth it. Thus, someone with the reputation of a coward may have a very difficult time attracting a date, much less a mate. Even their family may suffer by association, since we often assume (justified or not) that families share traits. But of course, there are more traits which we value other than just courage, and many cowards may nevertheless find someone willing to put up with the trait on the basis of something else they have to offer (perhaps cleverness, or access to abundant resources through family connections) -- so, it does pretty much depend on individual circumstances in the end. We can predict that both insane courage and cowardice will continue to propagate in the species.

    Comments

    • Unless the only one left alive is the coward? The insanely courageous seldom stay safely at home during struggles.

      Anonymous

      by Anonymous on December 19th, 2005

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