Darwinism and ethics

Leon R. Kass

pp. 47-69

in: Arthur Caplan, Bruce Jennings (eds), Darwin, Marx and Freud, Berlin, Springer, 1984

Abstract

What bearing should Darwinism (that is, the theory of the origin of species, including the human species, by natural selection) have on ethics (that is, on our thoughts about how we as human beings should live our lives)? This question is but a recent and specific example of the age-old and general question about the relation between our knowledge of nature and our thoughts about ethics. This broader question, in turn, presupposes prior questions, both about the nature of nature and about the nature of ethics and the good for man. A full exploration of the former would carry us into questions about change, time, energy, cause, and, ultimately, about being itself. A full exploration of the latter would involve questions about justice, nobility, freedom, virtue, duty, happiness, pleasure, and, ultimately, about good itself. Both explorations would also necessarily consider the intelligibility of what is and what is good, as well as the powers and limits of the thinking mind to discover the intelligibly true and good.

Cited authors

Darwin Charles