The Evolution of Morality

[N D Hill]

Going through my podcasts, I found this little gem. An episode of WNYC's Radio Lab. The episode is focused on the science of moral direction that examines the mounting evidence that an ingrained sense of right and wrong my not be handed down from on high, but up from below by our primate ancestors. By examining commonalities across cultures and even species, clear evidence is drawn that outlines the benefits of moral behavior to survival.

The episode can be found in the iTunes Podcast directory or downloaded here.

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2006/04/28

[Goog]

Man, I was just having a conversation about this with my parents last night. Thanks for the link.

[NoSeRider]

I was more intrigued with 'Kiddie Morality' and the happy victimizer effect......you don't have to study 'just' chimpanzees to understand human nature.

[NoSeRider]

I think in order to be a 'character artist' you have to know about character, not just the typical clenched teeth grimace comic book style thingy.

Ignore this thread at your peril. I see a lot of potential story making in this thread.

[Cthogua]

Great link, however I don't think this is suprising at all. I've been arguing for years that everything that we basically consider right and wrong, can really be boiled down to what is productive to the tribe/herd/pack. It makes alot of sense that we would have inherited our "morality" from our obviously social ancestors. Infact any type of social animal must have some sort of concept of what is good for the pack and what isn't. Certainly sometimes that breaks down, but packs couldn't work if they didn't know how to cooperate.

[Spade]

biology is so cool, thats one thing ill miss about college! if you guys are interested in stuff like this you should check out a book called "the selfish gene" pretty interesting. thanks for that link !

[otis]

I don't know if this relates but, I think it is very important to be "selfish".

If you can't respect yourself, love yourself, help yourself,...then nobody else can or ever will either.

[Animation Idiot]

Richard Dawkins has a fascinating documentary on the subject of cooperation for better survival, 'nice guys finish first': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzeCn02l_Rw

Interestingly enough, the film is a sort of a rebuttal to people who read and misunderstood what he was talking about in his book "the selfish gene."

[N D Hill]

Richard Dawkins has a fascinating documentary on the subject of cooperation for better survival, 'nice guys finish first': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzeCn02l_Rw

Interestingly enough, the film is a sort of a rebuttal to people who read and misunderstood what he was talking about in his book "the selfish gene."

That's kind of why I bothered posting this. Those who argue about the nature of morality, especially theists, tend to claim that without rules handed down from on high, "there's nothing to stop people from going around and killing eachother" (which they do anyway incidentally). Even when I could've called myself religious, the fallacy in that argument seemed obvious. the relationships we maintain with other humans are beneficial to our survival. It's an form of classical conditioning that's been hard-wired into us. Behavior = reward.

[Jason Rainville]

Very nice 'cast. Have any other gems for or entertainment?

[Cthogua]

That's kind of why I bothered posting this. Those who argue about the nature of morality, especially theists, tend to claim that without rules handed down from on high, "there's nothing to stop people from going around and killing eachother" (which they do anyway incidentally).

The other thing thats funny (in a really dark way) about that is how often the concept of a place from which things can be handed down from on high is used as an actual motivation for people to go around and kill eachother. Infact I think that a belief in an afterlife makes killing psychologically easier.