Introduction to Evolutionary E

ISBN-13: 9781405193962 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 240 str.

Scott M. James

Opis

Offering the first general introductory text to this subject, the timely Introduction to Evolutionary Ethics reflects the most up-to-date research and current issues being debated in both psychology and philosophy. The book presents students to the areas of cognitive psychology, normative ethics, and metaethics.

• The first general introduction to evolutionary ethics
• Provides a comprehensive survey of work in three distinct areas of research: cognitive psychology, normative ethics, and metaethics
• Presents the most up-to-date research available in both psychology and philosophy
• Written in an engaging and accessible style for undergraduates and the interested general reader
• Discusses the evolution of morality, broadening its relevance to those studying psychology

Recenzje

Recommended for all undergraduate libraries in the sciences and humanities.   (Perspectives on Science & Christian Faith, 1 March 2013)

"In the end, I think this is a valuable book mixing an analytic philosophical approach with some interesting biology. I personally found the book faltering only because it takes, perhaps unnecessarily, a very orthodox adaptationist stance. Evolutionary ethics should take the whole of evolutionary biology seriously into account, not only a biased version of it." (Metapsychology, 20 February 2012)

"Balanced and comprehensive, it should be the definitive text for many years". (Star News Online Blogs, 22 December 2010)

Spis treści

Introduction: A Philosopher and a Biologist Walk into a Bar . . . 1

Part I. From Selfish Genes to Moral Beings: Moral Psychology after Darwin 7

1 Natural Selection and Human Nature 11

1.1 The Basic Story 11

1.2 Some Common Misunderstandings 15

1.3 Mother Nature as Tinkerer 16

1.4 Evolutionary Psychology and Human Nature 18

1.5 An Evolved Mental Tool–Box 19

1.6 Some (More) Common Misunderstandings 21

1.7 Conclusion 26

2 The (Earliest) Roots of Right 29

2.1 Together We Stand? 30

2.2 Inclusive Fitness and the Gene s–Eye Point of View 32

2.3 Love Thy Neighbor But Love Thy Family First 35

2.4 False Positives and Core Systems 37

2.5 A Quick Note on Altruism 39

2.6 Reciprocal Altruism 40

2.7 Conclusion 45

3 The Caveman s Conscience: The Evolution of Human Morality 48

3.1 What Makes Moral Creatures Moral 49

3.2 The Evolution of Morality 57

3.3 Explaining the Nature of Moral Judgments 62

3.4 Conclusion 64

4 Just Deserts 66

4.1 The Ultimatum Game 67

4.2 The Public Goods Game 69

4.3 Winners Don t Punish 71

4.4 The Benefits of Guilt 74

4.5 A Lamb among Lions? 77

4.6 An Explanation for All of Morality? 79

4.7 Universal Morality or Universal Reason? 81

4.8 Conclusion 84

5 The Science of Virtue and Vice 87

5.1 Distress Test 89

5.2 Mind–Reading 95

5.3 Them s the Rules 98

5.4 Moral Innateness and the Linguistic Analogy 100

5.5 Switchboards, Biases, and Affective Resonances 105

5.6 Non–Nativist Doubts 110

5.7 Conclusion 112

Part II. From What Is to What Ought To Be : Moral Philosophy after Darwin 117

6 Social Harmony: The Good, the Bad, and the Biologically Ugly 121

6.1 From the Great Chain of Being, to the Tree of Life, to Morality 121

6.2 Uprooting the Tree of Life 126

7 Hume s Law 132

7.1 Deductively Valid Arguments 133

7.2 You Can t Get Out What You Don t Put In 136

7.3 Of the Last Consequence 137

7.4 Blocking the Move from Might to Right 138

7.5 Darwinism and Preserving the Human Species 140

7.6 Conclusion 141

8 Moore s Naturalistic Fallacy 143

8.1 The Open Question Test 144

8.2 Failing the Open Question Test: Desiring to Desire 145

8.3 Failing the Open Question Test: Spencer 146

8.4 Failing the Open Question Test: Wilson 147

8.5 Conclusion 148

9 Rethinking Moore and Hume 150

9.1 Some Preliminary Doubts about the Open Question Test 150

9.2 What Things Mean vs. What Things Are 152

9.3 Implications for Social Darwinism 153

9.4 Forays across the Is/Ought Gap: Searle 154

9.5 Forays across the Is/Ought Gap: Rachels 155

9.6 Conclusion 159

10 Evolutionary Anti–Realism: Early Efforts 161

10.1 This Is Your Brain on God 165

10.2 Preliminaries 167

10.3 Wilson 168

10.4 The Argument from Idiosyncrasy 170

10.5 The Argument from Redundancy 171

10.6 Causation, Justification, and . . . a Rotting Corpse 173

10.7 Conclusion 175

11 Contemporary Evolutionary Anti–Realism 178

11.1 Napoleon Pills 178

11.2 A Darwinian Dilemma 181

11.3 Conclusion 185

12 Options for the Evolutionary Realist 187

12.1 Option 1: Learning Right from Wrong 189

12.2 Option 2: Response Dependency 190

12.3 Option 3: Virtue Ethics Naturalized 193

12.4 Option 4: Moral Constructivism 198

12.5 Objections to the Realist Options 203

12.6 Conclusion 207

Notes 211

References 218

Index 225

O autorze

Scott M. James is Assistant Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. He has published work on evolutionary ethics in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research and the Australasian Journal of Philosophy.

Blurb

The subject of reconciling our evolutionary past with our sense of right and wrong is undergoing a resurgent wave of interest. The timely Introduction to Evolutionary Ethics offers the first general introductory text to this area, presenting students with three different areas of ongoing research related to evolution and morality: cognitive psychology, normative ethics, and metaethics.

The text is divided into two sections. Part I explores the cognitive psychological question of how if at all our moral sense evolved. Part II reviews both historical and recent efforts to derive moral norms and draws conclusions about the objectivity of morality from biological facts about our evolutionary past.

Written in an engaging and accessible style, this book presents an exciting study of the most up–to–date research and current issues being debated across both psychology and philosophy.