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Evolutionary Ethics: Healthy Prospect or Last Infirmity?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Michael Ruse
Michael Ruse*
Affiliation:
University of Guelph, Guelph, ONCanadaN1G 2W1
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Extract

Evolutionary ethics, the idea that the evolutionary process contains the basis for a full and adequate understanding of human moral nature, is an old and disreputable notion. It was popularized in the 19th century by the English general man of science, Herbert Spencer, who began advocating an evolutionary approach to ethical understanding, even before Charles Darwin published his Origin of Species in 1859 (Spencer 1857, 1892). Although it was never regarded with much enthusiasm by professional philosophers, thanks to Spencer’s advocacy the evolutionary approach to ethics soon gained wide popularity, both in Britain and towards the end of the century, even more in the United States of America (Ruse 1986; Russett 1976). It became transformed into a whole sociopolitical doctrine, known somewhat inaccurately as ‘Social Darwinism.’ (Scholars have long debated as to whether Darwin himself was truly a Social Darwinian, and the answer seems to depend on which of his works you read. If you look at the Origin of Species, he certainly is not. On the other hand, if you look at the Descent of Man, there are good reasons for thinking that he was not unsympathetic to the idea.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy Supplementary Volume , Volume 14: Philosophy & Biology , 1988 , pp. 27 - 73
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 1988

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