Evolution and Normative Ethics

John Mizzoni
Philosophy, Neumann College

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     Last modified: February 15, 2005
     Presentation date: 07/17/2005 9:00 AM in MACK 236
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Abstract
To assert that ethics rests on evolutionary foundations would involve showing: (1) how metaethical theory fits with evolution and (2) how normative ethical theory fits with evolution. By offering metaethical theories such as Error Theory, Expressivism, Moral Relativism, and Moral Realism, theorists attempt to explain the general nature and origins of ethics. On the other hand, theorists who work with normative ethical theories such as Virtue Ethics, Natural Law Ethics, Social Contract Ethics, Deontological Ethics, Utilitarian Ethics, and Ethics of Care, attempt to articulate and defend normative principles that people can use in a practical way in deliberating about specific ethical actions. Normative ethical theories thus provide guidance about what we ought to do or what kind of persons we ought to become, while metaethical theories do not.
In his book Taking Darwin Seriously, Michael Ruse deals with both the metaethical and the normative levels of ethics. One of his goals is to briefly explore whether we can mesh what Darwinians would have us believe about the evolution and nature of human altruism with the two most prevalent normative ethical theories: utilitarianism and Kantian deontology.
In this paper I am continuing Ruse’s type of analysis and I am looking at other prominent normative ethical approaches such as virtue ethics, natural law ethics, social contract ethics, and ethics of care. Ruse was confident that utilitarianism and Kantian deontology can be reconciled with a Darwinian approach. In this paper I examine whether the same can be said of other normative ethical theories. How would Virtue Ethics, Natural Law Ethics, Social Contract Ethics, and Ethics of Care fit with a Darwinian approach?
I hope to show how, at the foundation of all normative ethics, there are evolutionary dispositions that subtly influence us and help to shape our ethical frameworks. In order to show this, there are multiple layers that we need to peel back. If we are to expose the nature of ethics and provide a full account of the foundations of ethics we must show how normative ethics fits with an evolutionary account.