Aporias of Evolutionary Ethics: A Review of Normative Ethics as ‘Effective Illusion’
Abstract Michael Ruse, one of the most prominent thinkers of the current philosophy of biology, from 1986 to his recent articles has developed an original conception of meta-ethics and normative ethics in an evolutionary key. Starting from an in-depth consideration of morality in the light of the theory of biological evolution, the philosopher defends a meta-ethical skepticism and, at the same time, the characterization of normative ethics as an “effective illusion”: it is an “Illusion” because there is no objective moral criterion; it is “effective” because moral reasoning is underlain by innate mental dispositions correlated with altruistic behaviour. Today, part of his claims are supported by research in sciences such as primatology and moral psychology. However, their meta-ethical and ethical approaches seem to lead to an aporia: given that there are no objective moral criteria and that reasoning has a subsidiary role in morality, normativity in ethics vanishes. The objective of this article is to expose the characteristics of this aporia in the light of recent scientific studies, as well as to propose a possible avenue of investigation that allows searching for plausible solutions.
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Kagan, Jerome (1984). The nature of the child. New York: Basic Books.
Kahneman, Daniel (2019). Pensar rápido, pensar lento. Barcelona: Debate.
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Lahti, David (2003). Parting with illusions in evolutionary ethics. Biology and Philosophy, 18(5), 639-651. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026356412003
Nyhan, Brendan, Reifler, Jason (2019). The roles of information deficits and identity threat in the prevalence of misperceptions. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 29(2), 222-244. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457289.2018.1465061
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Ruse, Michael, Wilson, Edward (1985). The evolution of morality. New Scientist, 1478, 108-128.
Ruse, Michael (1985). Taking Darwin Seriously: A Naturalistic Approach to Philosophy. Oxford: Blackwell.
Ruse, Michael (1986). Evolutionary ethics: A phoenix arisen. Zygon, 21(1), 95-112. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.1986.tb00736.x
Ruse, Michael (1990). Evolutionary ethics and the search for predecessors: Kant, Hume, and all the way back to Aristotle? Social Philosophy and Policy, 8(1), 59-85. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265052500003745
Ruse, Michael (1993). The new evolutionary ethics. En M. Nitecki y D. Nitecki (eds.), Evolutionary ethics (pp. 133-162). Albany, New York: Suny Press.
Ruse, Michael (1999). Evolutionary Ethics in the Twentieth Century: Julian Sorell Huxley and George Gaylord Simpson. En J. Maienschein y M. Ruse (eds.), Biology and the Foundation of Ethics (pp. 199-224). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ruse, Michael (2002). A Darwinian Naturalist's Perspective on Altruism. En Stephen Post et al. (eds.), Altruism and altruistic love: Science, philosophy, and religion in dialogue. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195143584.003.0015
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Waal, Frans de (1982). Chimpanzee politics. Nueva York: Harper and Row.
Waal, Frans de (1991). The chimpanzee's sense of social regularity and its relation to the human sense of justice. American Behavioral Scientist, 34, 335-349. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764291034003005
Waal, Frans de (1996). Good natured: The origins of right and wrong in humans and other animals. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Waal, Frans de, y Lanting, Frans (1997). Bonobo: The forgotten ape. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Waal, Frans de (2007). Primates y filósofos. Barcelona: Paidós.
Wason, P. C. (1960). On the Failure to Eliminate Hypotheses in a Conceptual Task. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 12, 129-140. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470216008416717
Wilson, James. (1993). The moral sense. Nueva York: Free Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/2938952
Woolcock, Peter (1993). Ruse's Darwinian meta-ethics: A critique. Biology and Philosophy, 8(4), 423-439. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00857688
Caponi, Gustavo (2018). ¿Qué quiere decir "naturalizar"? Ludus Vitalis, XXVI(50): 185-188.
Dennett, Daniel (2004). La evolución de la libertad. Barcelona: Paidós.
Dewey, John (1911). The influence of Darwin on Philosophy. The Philosophical Review, 20(2), 219- 221. https://doi.org/10.2307/2177662
Dupré, John (2007). El legado de Darwin. Qué significa hoy la evolución. Madrid: Katz Editores. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvndv61v
Gazzaniga, Michael (1985). The social brain. Nueva York: Basic Books.
Goodall, Jane (1986). The chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of behavior. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, Harvard University Press.
Greene, Joshua (2013). Moral tribes. Nueva York: Penguin.
Haidt, Jonathan (2001). The emotional dog and its rational tail: a social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. Psychological Review, 108, 814-834. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.108.4.814
Kagan, Jerome (1984). The nature of the child. New York: Basic Books.
Kahneman, Daniel (2019). Pensar rápido, pensar lento. Barcelona: Debate.
Kitcher, Philip (2011). The ethical Project. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674063075
Lahti, David (2003). Parting with illusions in evolutionary ethics. Biology and Philosophy, 18(5), 639-651. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026356412003
Nyhan, Brendan, Reifler, Jason (2019). The roles of information deficits and identity threat in the prevalence of misperceptions. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 29(2), 222-244. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457289.2018.1465061
Rosenberg, Alexander (2003). Darwinism in moral philosophy and social theory. En M. Hodge y G. Raddick (eds.), The Cambridge companion to Darwin (pp. 310-332). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521771978.014
Rottschaefer, William, Martinsen, David (1990). Really taking Darwin seriously: An alternative to Michael Ruse's Darwinian metaethics. Biology and Philosophy, 5(2), 149-173. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00127485
Ruse, Michael, Wilson, Edward (1985). The evolution of morality. New Scientist, 1478, 108-128.
Ruse, Michael (1985). Taking Darwin Seriously: A Naturalistic Approach to Philosophy. Oxford: Blackwell.
Ruse, Michael (1986). Evolutionary ethics: A phoenix arisen. Zygon, 21(1), 95-112. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.1986.tb00736.x
Ruse, Michael (1990). Evolutionary ethics and the search for predecessors: Kant, Hume, and all the way back to Aristotle? Social Philosophy and Policy, 8(1), 59-85. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265052500003745
Ruse, Michael (1993). The new evolutionary ethics. En M. Nitecki y D. Nitecki (eds.), Evolutionary ethics (pp. 133-162). Albany, New York: Suny Press.
Ruse, Michael (1999). Evolutionary Ethics in the Twentieth Century: Julian Sorell Huxley and George Gaylord Simpson. En J. Maienschein y M. Ruse (eds.), Biology and the Foundation of Ethics (pp. 199-224). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ruse, Michael (2002). A Darwinian Naturalist's Perspective on Altruism. En Stephen Post et al. (eds.), Altruism and altruistic love: Science, philosophy, and religion in dialogue. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195143584.003.0015
Ruse, Michael (2009). Evolution and ethics: The sociobiological approach. Philosophy After Darwin (pp. 489-511). New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Ruse, Michael (2010). The biological sciences can act as a ground for ethics. En F. J. Ayala y R. Arp (eds.), Contemporary debates in philosophy of biology (pp. 297-315). New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444314922.ch17
Russett, Cynthia (1976). Darwin in America. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.
Sapolsky, Robert (2017). Behave: the biology of humans at our best and worst. Nueva York: Penguin.
Sapolsky, Robert, Share, Lisa (2004). A pacific culture among wild baboons, its emergence and transmission. Public Library of Science Biology, 2, e106-13. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0020106
Sober, Elliott (1994). From a biological point of view: Essays in evolutionary philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511624940
Spencer, Herbert (1852). A Theory of Population, Deduced from the General Law of Animal Fertility. Westminster Review, 1, 468-501.
Stamos, David. (2015). Myth of universal human rights: Its origin, history, and explanation, along with a more humane way. Nueva York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315633350
Waal, Frans de (1982). Chimpanzee politics. Nueva York: Harper and Row.
Waal, Frans de (1991). The chimpanzee's sense of social regularity and its relation to the human sense of justice. American Behavioral Scientist, 34, 335-349. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764291034003005
Waal, Frans de (1996). Good natured: The origins of right and wrong in humans and other animals. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Waal, Frans de, y Lanting, Frans (1997). Bonobo: The forgotten ape. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Waal, Frans de (2007). Primates y filósofos. Barcelona: Paidós.
Wason, P. C. (1960). On the Failure to Eliminate Hypotheses in a Conceptual Task. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 12, 129-140. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470216008416717
Wilson, James. (1993). The moral sense. Nueva York: Free Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/2938952
Woolcock, Peter (1993). Ruse's Darwinian meta-ethics: A critique. Biology and Philosophy, 8(4), 423-439. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00857688
Suárez-Ruíz, E. J. (2020). Aporias of Evolutionary Ethics: A Review of Normative Ethics as ‘Effective Illusion’. ArtefaCToS. Revista De Estudios Sobre La Ciencia Y La tecnología, 9(2), 103–119. https://doi.org/10.14201/art202092103119
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