The Natures of Universal Moralities
33 Pages Posted: 11 Jun 2009
Date Written: June 8, 2009
Abstract
One of the abiding lessons from postmodernism is that reason does not go all the way down. That is, one cannot deductively derive a universal morality from incontestible moral primitives, or practical reason alone. Instead, even reasoned moral systems must ultimately be grounded on intuition, a sense of justice. The question then arises, whence come moral intuitions? Evolutionary biology offers answers. In this article, I examine the main ones. Since the products of evolutionary principles are contingent on chance and the environment in which the evolution occurs, I speculate on the range of moral intuitions consistent with these principles.
Keywords: morality, ethics, sense of justice, moral intuition, evolutionary biology, evolution psychology
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