Orgins Of Morality Flashcards
What are some proximal causes of behaviour?
• Contextual
• Biochemical
• Physiological
• Developmental
• Cognitive
• Social/Cultural
• . . . and all other immediate causes of
behavior
What are some distal causes of behaviour?
• Evolutionary
• Existential
What is evolution by natural selection? (Darwinism)
What are the 3 essential ingredients?
Evolution = change in the heritable characteristics of organisms over successive generations
Characteristics = expressions of genes passed from parent to offspring (naturally vary within a population due to genetic
mutation and genetic drift)
Natural selection = certain characteristics become more common (or rare) within a population due to their usefulness (or lack there of) in terms of survival and reproduction
——————————————————————————-
1. Variation
2. Inheritance
3. Selection
What is the “mystery” proposed by Darwin?
The mystery for evolutionary theorizing is why we seem to act in
ways we would consider prosocial or moral so much of the time
Darwin recognized this as a potential problem for his theory ^
What are Darwins 4 stages in the evolution of morality?
1) Inheriting social instincts
• Need to belong; safety in #s (e.g., Dunn on taking pleasure in maintaining social bonds)
2) Sophisticated intellectual abilities, conscience
• Conscience = we feel bad when we don’t do #1
3) Language and public opinion
• Gossip, tattle telling, ostracism (= death)
4) Obedience
• We obey hierarchy structures (seen in our primate relatives)
***THIS DOESNT MEAN A FIXED PATTERN OF BEHAVIOUR
What are Darwin’s 3 “unselfish” behaviours?
Obedience, cooperation and altruism
One part of what keeps us prosocial are “_________” and “__________” to authority (seen in our primate and other species)
What happens to low-ranked individuals? (Pros and cons)
Hierarchies; obedience
Low ranked individuals defer, obey, and show respect and loyalty
to higher ranked individuals
Importantly, low ranked individuals are not simply dominated and
exploited but typically benefit from such relationships via:
• Protection
• Advice
• Dispute intervention
• Leadership and its accompanying group strength
What are the 5 types of cooperation?
Five types of cooperation (see Krebs, 2008):
1. Mutualism
2. Concrete Reciprocity
3. Cooperation with cooperators
4. Indirect Reciprocity
5. Long-term social investment
What is “Tit-for-Tat”?
(Prisoners dilemma)
Always cooperate if the other person cooperates (if they don’t = then you can betray)
“Working together to an extent”
Forgiveness and revenge alternate
What are the 3 types of altruism?
- Kin selection
- evolutionary predisposed to help those we are genetically related to - Reciprocal altruism
- “you scratch my back I’ll do yours”
3 conditions:
- stable groups
- long-lived
- ability to recognize others - Extended altruism
- helping when we are unlikely to repay the favour
- can help signal that you are a good cooperator (mate material )
- (+) emotions w/ helping others
Outgroup hostility can lead to?
Violence and xenophobia
Our tendency towards forming tight social groups has a lot of benefits but also has a dark side
Humans as our own worst threat
Difference b/w cultural and descriptive relativism?
Cultural relativism:
- there is NO objective morality
- depends on cultural approval/disapproval
Descriptive relativism:
- different cultures have different beliefs about morality
Cultures are dynamic and experience several influences (peace-trade theory, technology)
What are 2 ecological/enviromental influences?
- Farming VS herding:
- culture of honor
- southern uni students more aggressive in response to insults
- EASY to protect crops, HARD to protect cows - Rice VS wheat farmers:
- northern & southern china
- paddy rice requires cooperation (collectivistic- binding values)
- wheat farmers (individualistic- individualizing values)
What is deep-pragmatism?
(This is really just utilitariaism- he admits this “marketing tactic”)
What are his 2 arguments?
Does this make his different from Haidt perspective?
Joshua Green
- Philosophical argument (common currency argument):
- diff societies have DIFFERENT moral codes
- need “common currency”
- minimize bad maximize good - Psychological argument (dual-process model):
- SYSTEM I: quick, intuitive & emotional (baseline thinking- deontological)
- SYSTEM 2: slow, rational & deliberate (utilitarian)
YES because he thinks that MORAL REASONING often CHANGES PPLS MORAL JUDGEMENTS
What is ethical pragmatism?
Deep pragmatism is “__________”-based ethical pragmatism (we have evolved to seek pleasure and avoid pain)
Deep pragmatism is the “______” universal moral language we have
Utilitarianism is “____” moral truth, but rather a “__________” way
If ordinary moral intuitions are working and not leading to conflict, Greene says it is “___” to rely on them
Rejects the idea that there is a universal ethical principle or universal value and argues that we should evaluate ethical principles on their UTILTY
———————————————————————————-
Evolutionary; best; not; practical; ok
