Biology of Moral Systems
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A01=Richard Alexander
Arcane Reasons
Author_Richard Alexander
Category=JMA
Category=PSAJ
Category=PSX
conflict of interest theory
Deadly Snake
Direct Reciprocity
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eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_science
eq_society-politics
Eusocial Insects
evolutionary basis of moral conflict
evolutionary ethics
evolutionary psychology
Genetic Individuality
group selection
Idealized Moral Systems
indirect
Indirect Reciprocity
Indiscriminate Altruism
International Arms Race
kin selection models
Large Human Groups
Life Interests
Lifetime Monogamy
Modern Evolutionary Biology
Multiple Paradox
NICU
NICU Nurse
Proximate Mechanisms
Rational Interests
reciprocity
Reproductive Effort
Reproductive Success
Richard D. Alexander
Runaway Sexual Selection
social behavior evolution
Somatic Effort
Vice Versa
Victim's Interests
Victim’s Interests
Young Men
Product details
- ISBN 9780202011738
- Weight: 453g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 31 Dec 1987
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Inc
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Despite wide acceptance that the attributes of living creatures have appeared through a cumulative evolutionary process guided chiefly by natural selection, many human activities have seemed analytically inaccessible through such an approach. Prominent evolutionary biologists, for example, have described morality as contrary to the direction of biological evolution, and moral philosophers rarely regard evolution as relevant to their discussions.The Biology of Moral Systems adopts the position that moral questions arise out of conflicts of interest, and that moral systems are ways of using confluences of interest at lower levels of social organization to deal with conflicts of interest at higher levels. Moral systems are described as systems of indirect reciprocity: humans gain and lose socially and reproductively not only by direct transactions, but also by the reputations they gain from the everyday flow of social interactions.The author develops a general theory of human interests, using senescence and effort theory from biology, to help analyze the patterning of human lifetimes. He argues that the ultimate interests of humans are reproductive, and that the concept of morality has arisen within groups because of its contribution to unity in the context, ultimately, of success in intergroup competition. He contends that morality is not easily relatable to universals, and he carries this argument into a discussion of what he calls the greatest of all moral problems, the nuclear arms race."Crammed with sage observations on moral dilemmas and many reasons why an understanding of evolution based on natural selection will advance thinking in finding practical solutions to our most difficult social problems." û Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences Richard D. Alexander is Donald Ward Tinkle Professor of Evolutionary Biology, Department of Biology, and Curator of Insects, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan. A recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Alexander is the author of Darwinism and Human Affairs.
