Abstract

How did human kindness, decency, and generosity emerge? Ever since Darwin, people have worried about the implications that the theory of evolution by natural selection might have for ethical behavior in humans. If natural selection boils down to competition for survival and reproduction, should not only the most ruthless, unprincipled, domineering individuals succeed? We argue that Darwinian evolution provides the foundations of ethical behavior, both through the genetic evolution that shaped our unusual psychology, and through cultural evolution that continues to shape our social behavior. Moreover, we argue that the key factors that make humans successful as a species have involved the transformation of zero-sum games into positive-sum games, both with other humans and with a broadening array of other species. For example, chimpanzees mainly compete with one another for food. In contrast, in human hunter-gatherer societies, collective foraging, division of labor, and food sharing enable humans to flourish in habitats where chimpanzees would starve. In chimpanzees, males and females both mate promiscuously, and males contribute little to childcare. In contrast, human marriage makes for more mutually beneficial relationships, enabling humans to reproduce faster than chimpanzees. When humans transformed predatory relationships (hunting and gathering) into mutualisms (herding and gardening), humans and their mutualists grew to dominate the planet. Key challenges facing humans today include maintaining (and restoring) positive-sum games among human societies, and expanding the circle of players in positive-sum games to ensure the flourishing of global ecosystems.

Michael Wilson's personal website

Reference

Michael Wilson (University of Minnesota), “Changing the Game: Ethics, Evolution, and Human Domination of the Planet”, IAST Lunch Seminar, Toulouse: IAST, January 29, 2019, 12:45–13:45, room MF323.