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MYTH AND MORALITY: THE LOVE COMMAND
Author(s) -
Hefner Philip
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.tb00805.x
Subject(s) - morality , creatures , mythology , argument (complex analysis) , homo sapiens , action (physics) , epistemology , altruism (biology) , function (biology) , philosophy , sociology , environmental ethics , psychology , social psychology , anthropology , history , natural (archaeology) , biochemistry , physics , theology , quantum mechanics , evolutionary biology , biology , chemistry , archaeology
. Following in general a history of religions analysis, the paper argues that myth lays a basis for morality in that it sets forth a picture of “how things really are” (the is ), to which humans seek to conform their actions (morality, the ought ). A parallel argument locates the capacity for morality and values orientation in the process of evolution itself. A hypothesis is formulated concerning the function of myth in the emergence of Homo sapiens , namely, to motivate the action required if creatures so culturally formed as humans were to survive. The Christian love command (understood as altruism) is interpreted as an example of the general hypothesis.