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HOW DID MORALITY EVOLVE?
Author(s) -
Irons William
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
zygon®
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-9744
pISSN - 0591-2385
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9744.1991.tb00803.x
Subject(s) - morality , criticism , epistemology , evolutionary theory , limit (mathematics) , competition (biology) , group (periodic table) , normative ethics , sociology , philosophy , law , political science , mathematics , physics , mathematical analysis , ecology , biology , quantum mechanics
. This paper presents and criticizes. Alexander's evolutionary theory of morality (1987). Earlier research, on which Alexander's theory is based, is also reviewed. The propensity to create moral systems evolved because it allowed ancestral humans to limit conflict within cooperating groups and thus form larger groups, which were advantageous because of intense between‐group competition. Alexander sees moral codes as contractual, and the primary criticism of his theory is that moral codes are not completely contractual but also coercive. Ways of evaluating Alexander's theory as well as modified versions of it are discussed.