Download Lahti, David

Can Christian Values
Survive Evolutionary
Analysis?
David Lahti
City University of New York
Evolution made us naughty
•  Huxley: The ethical progress of society depends
on combatting our evolutionary nature
•  Dawkins (in 1976): We must rebel against
the tyranny of the selfish replicators
•  Williams: The products of evolution in human
behavior are usually morally evil and we should
avoid them
Evolution made us nice
•  Ruse: Altruism is a human adaptation, just as our
hands and eyes and teeth are
•  Wilson: Morality is a product of the limbic
system, which has been fashioned by natural
selection
•  evolutionary economists & group selectionists: Humans have
evolved to act efficiently, which today means acting for the
community good
Homo maleficiens
Homo pugnax
Homo beneficiens
Homo reciprocans
Homo economicus
Homo sapiens
Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,
A being darkly wise and rudely great:
...
He hangs between, in doubt to act or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a God or Beast
Alexander Pope,
Essay On Man, 1732
Where does any aspect
of human nature come from?
Inherited
tendencies
Acquired
understanding
Evolutionary heritage x Plasticity
Nonhumans?
Humanity
Fellow citizens
Associates
Kin
Self?
The crucible of morality:
competition vs. cooperation
•  Competition within groups–
for social status and mates
(Darwin, Humphrey)
•  Competition between groups–
associated with within-group cooperation
(Darwin, Alexander)
Self-service
Group-service
Solutions to the conflict between
group and individual interests
1.  Principle of stability-dependent cooperation
Solutions to the conflict between
group and individual interests
2. Indirect reciprocity and reputation
Modifiers of morality
•  Insurance against sudden threats
–  moral absolutism
–  moral viscosity
•  Deception
•  Power differentials
Evolution and Human Behavior 2005
Modifiers of morality
•  Insurance against sudden threats
–  moral absolutism
–  moral viscosity
•  Deception
•  Power differentials
•  Rapid cultural change
–  cultural surrogates for adaptation
Biology and Philosophy 2002
Cultural surrogates for
adaptation
Moral institutions as cultural
surrogates for adaptation
Why do we continue to inherit
ancient tendencies?
1. Continued selection
Dating, business, media, fashion, sports,
schools still exert selection for, e.g.:
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
Social intelligence
Competitiveness
Conformity
Innovation
Physical fitness
Why do we continue to inherit
ancient behavioral tendencies?
2. Evolutionary lag
•  ~100 generations of consistent natural
selection = 2000 years!
•  Modern technology and cultural practices
would have to continue for many hundreds of
years to have an evolutionary effect
•  No genetic inheritance of acquired traits
•  Cultural change proceeds very quickly!
Why do we continue to inherit ancient
behavioral tendencies?
3. Relaxation of natural selection
•  Modern medical care
•  Modern social programs
•  Democratic political systems
Where is right and wrong
in this story?
Bad
Good
Self-service
Group-service
In each of us, two natures are
at war-- the good and the evil.
All our lives the fight goes on
between them, and one of
them must conquer. But in our
hands lies the power to
choose--what we want most to
be, we are.
-Robert Louis Stevenson
There are multiple discrete levels
of analysis of human nature
• 
• 
• 
• 
Physiology (mechanical causation)
Function (adaptation)
Phylogeny (evolutionary history)
Ontogeny (development)
There are multiple discrete levels
of analysis of human nature
• 
• 
• 
• 
Physiology (mechanical causation)
Function (adaptation)
Phylogeny (evolutionary history)
Ontogeny (development)
•  Agency (choice, morality)
There are multiple discrete levels
of analysis of human nature
• 
• 
• 
• 
Physiology (mechanical causation)
Function (adaptation)
Phylogeny (evolutionary history)
Ontogeny (development)
•  Agency (choice, morality)
•  Ultimate Purpose (religion)
END THE
EVOLUTION
CULTURE WAR