Download Lecture 7, Evolution

Ethical principles
Natural is good.
Harmony with nature, finding and following your natural dao, is
the way to live a long and happy life
Wu-wei
• non-action, or action without striving
• be like water or a supple tree (flowing and flexible)
or like a clod of earth or an uncarved block
(simple and unsophisticated)
Peaceful and non-violent
Individualistic and anti-government
Environmental Implications
• Nature is good and natural processes are respected.
• Harmonious sustainable relationship with nature is sought.
• Animals and plants all their own daos and their own role in
the Great Dao.
• Consumerism and all types of material greed are devalued,
thus harm to the environment should be minimized.
But:
• Can be fatalistic and passive.
• Non-action may minimize environmental problems, but
unlikely to help solve environmental crises (i.e. not very
compatible with activism)
Commonality among (Zen) Buddhism,
Daoism and Confucianism
Focus on relations, rather than individuals
People are defined by their relations with others and,
perhaps, to nature
Ethics is highly relational as well
Contrasts with both dualism and individualism
Holistic rather than analytical
An ecological perspective
The Place of Homo sapiens in
Nature
Evolution
Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
Developed the theory of evolution while
traveling on the Beagle in the Galapagos Islands.
In 1859 published: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural
Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for
Life (usually referred to as “The Origin of Species”)
Descent with variation, survival of the fittest
The individuals most well-adapted to their
environment survive and leave the most descendants.
The survival of those that survive.
C19th anti-Darwin cartoon
Readings for next week
Required:
Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, Chapter 6: “The roots of
morality: why are we good?”, on reserve in the Philosophy
Department office