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Thomistic Natural Law as Darwinian Natural Right*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2009

Larry Arnhart
Affiliation:
Political Science, Northern Illinois University

Extract

The publication in 1975 of Edward O. Wilson's Sociobiology provoked a great controversy, for in that work Wilson claimed that ethics was rooted in human biology. On the first page of the book, he asserted that our deepest intuitions of right and wrong are guided by the emotional control centers of the brain, which evolved via natural selection to help the human animal exploit opportunities and avoid threats in the natural environment. In 1998, the publication of Wilson's Consilience renewed the controversy, as he continued to argue for explaining ethics through the biology of the moral sentiments.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Social Philosophy and Policy Foundation 2001

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