是什么支撑起了道德?
Serena Wong

25 January 2018

Where does morality originate from?Kevin Simlertackles this question onribbonfarm把道德比作一座斜塔,随着楼层的增加,美德也随之增加。Simler质疑这座塔是如何支撑的,尤其是考虑到自我牺牲的利他行为,这是一种从塔的顶端开始的行为。他认为,也许道德作为达尔文的生存机制对个体有益。

However, this theory comes with a couple bitter pills to swallow, including the idea that even those acts we consider morally good are motivated by self-interest. Simler then explores group selection, which looks at survival of the group, rather than of the individual. Yet this theory also leads to a troubling conclusion in the majority of cases: morally bad people will out-compete and out-survive morally good people.

那么我们认为道德的起源是什么呢?

Read the article here:https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2017/11/28/the-leaning-tower-of-morality/#more-6149

Comments(1)


Harold G. Neuman's picture

Harold G. Neuman

Friday, January 26, 2018 -- 9:01 AM

I wrote something recently,

I wrote something recently, related at least partially to this topic. My essay included a discussion of ethics, morality, competition and conflict, wherein I tied these to one another, as integral parts of the 'human condition'. Morality comes from a general desire to control man's baser drives, and in response to his more-or-less universal gravitation towards pleasure and aversion to pain. It was, doubtless, floating around long before there was anything resembling a belief in 'voices, oracles, gods (and hallucinations)' [see: Julian Jaynes' THE ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE BREAKDOWN OF THE BICAMERAL MIND] This era/epoch was, in its turn, long before god with a capital G appeared on the scene. Religion, when duly organized, was intended to further distill and refine this control mechanism...like good Scotch or Bourbon. Sadly (or perhaps, naturally) there would always be those who would thumb their noses and stray from the fold. 'Morally bad people' have not yet absconded with the totality of the world. Could they? It has not happened yet, so I'm not worried. The notion that bad people will prevail, to the complete detriment and destruction of the good, while not impossible, is a stretch. If laws fail us, we can always strengthen them or enact better ones. This is what we do.