X: [[Evolutionary Psychology]] # Evolutionary Morality Is morality an evolved capacity? What would the world look like if there was no god? The evolutionary psychologist would argue that all humans have a capacity for moral behavior because of evolution. In [[Evolutionary Biology]] altruism is defined as any behavior that benefits another organisms reproductive potential while decreasing ones own. ### Does True Altruism Exist? One of the hardest debates in evolutionary psychology is if true altruism exists. If doing something makes you feel good but it helps others, is it truly altruistic? ##### True altruism is fake Personally, I don't think true altruism exists as is argued in [[The Elephant in The Brain]] because we so "altruistic" acts as they make us feel good even subconsciously. Put a seemingly altruistic person in an environment like that experienced by Viktor Frankl in [[Three things that give meaning to peoples lives according to Viktor Frankl]] and you might see a completely different story. ### Kin Selection According to the kin selection argument we will be more likely to act altruistically with those who are related to us because they have a higher proportion of genes in common with us. ### Reciprocal Altruism Reciprocal altruism works off the idea that we have evolved to repay favors from others. The idea is we are altruistic because we trust we will be paid back for our altruism in some way down the road. ![[Evolution Altruism and Cooperation#^9a85d9]] This agrees with the arguments put forth in [[Burn]] by Herman Potzner who says that humans came to the top of the food chain because of our [[Burn#^a3b933|capacity for sharing]]. ### Group Selection and Large Group Cooperation For a long time argued with evolutionary biology and proliferated through books like [[The Selfish Gene]], the idea that natural selection could take place at the level of the group was ridiculed. Dawkin's argued in his book that the fundamental unit of replication and thus evolution was the gene and therefore groups were negligible. Now the group selection argument is back with this argument. [[Altruistic groups beat selfish groups|Selfishness beats altruism in groups but altruistic groups beat selfish groups.]] # Theories of Morality ## Haidt's Five Foundations ###### What are Haidt's five foundations of morality? 1. Harm/Care 2. Fairness 3. Ingroup Loyalty 4. Authority/Respect 5. Purity/Sanctity <!--SR:!2022-09-25,3,250--> The degree that a group or person values these foundations differs [[Emotion in Social Psychology#^2c795d|based on their values and culture]]. For example, Asian Cultures often prioritize foundations of loyalty, purity, and authority where as Western cultures often prioritize care and fairness. ###### What did Kohlberg's theory of morality focus on? He focused not on the content of moral beliefs but on their justification.