Charles Darwinian Ethics Research Paper

For millennia humans have contemplated the rules for right and wrong and good and bad. There seems to be a sort of underlying code for this behavior ingrained in us, and despite numerous cultural differences there are many similarities in this code across all humans in the world. Various origins have been proposed to explain the source of morality, such as divine (divine command theory) or derived from human reason (Aristotelian ethics). Some of the best minds in history have dedicated their lives trying to determine the answer to this question. In this paper we are going to look at a theory pioneered by Charles Darwin, the father of evolution. Darwin believed that morality, like other traits he observed came from evolution. What makes this theory unique to Darwinian ethics is that it does not presuppose that morality is unique to humans. In fact, it’s validity is entirely reliant on the idea that morality (albeit more simple in degree) must exist in other animals …show more content…
However, we haven’t looked deeply into the ethical questions about how we should act and how we can discern and recognize what good and evil is. While the Darwinian theory can explain how morality might have came into being, it is not much good as an ethical theory if it can’t answer those questions on its own. Darwin ultimately believed the answer to this gap was utilitarianism and the greatest happiness however there are several problems with utilitarianism that lead me to believe that Darwin was wrong in this analysis. (EXAMPLES HERE).There are other potential candidates which may be better applied to Darwinian ethics to form a proper and complete ethical theory. The criteria are that it must make logical sense in the context of evolution, and it also must be one which can carry its own weight as an ethical theory independent of Darwin so that it can be a guide for human

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