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This book explores historical and current discussions of the relevance of evolutionary theory to ethics. The historical section conveys the intellectual struggle that took place within the framework of Darwinism from its inception up to the work of G. C. Williams, W. D. Hamilton, R. D. Alexander, A. L. Trivers, E. O. Wilson, R. Dawkins, and others. The contemporary section discusses ethics within the framework of evolutionary theory as enriched by the works of biologists such as those mentioned above. The issue of whether ethical practice and ethical theory can be grounded in the theory of evolution has taken a new and significant direction within the context of sociobiology and is proving to be a challenge to previous thinking. This book conveys that challenge.
Preface
Introduction
Part I. In the Wake of the Origin
Moral Sense
Charles Darwin
Ways of Judging Conduct
Herbert Spencer
Evolution and Ethics
Thomas H. Huxley
Part II. In the Wake of Sociobiology
The Morality of the Gene
Edward O. Wilson
The Law of the Jungle: Moral Alternatives and Principles of Evolution
J. L. Mackie
A Biological Interpretation of Moral Systems
R.D. Alexander
The Hypothalmic Imperative
P. Kitcher
Evolutionary Ethics: A Phoenix Arisen
M. Ruse
A Defense of Evolutionary Ethics
R.J. Richards
The Biological Roots of Morality
F.J. Ayala
Huxley's Evolution and Ethics in Sociobiological Perspective
George C. Williams
The Biological Justification of Ethics: A Best-Case Scenario
Alexander Rosenberg
Really Taking Darwin Seriously: An Alternative to Michael Ruse's Darwinian Metaethics
William A. Rottschaefer and David Martinsen
Evolutionary Naturlaism and the Objectivity of Morality
John Collier and Michael Stingl
General Bibliography
Notes on Contemporary Authors
Index