Evolution and Morality

Can theories of evolution explain the development of our capacity
for moral judgment and the content of morality itself?
If bad behavior punished by the criminal law is attributable
to physical causes, rather than being intentional or voluntary
as traditionally assumed, what are the implications for rethinking
the criminal justice system? Is evolutionary theory
and “nature talk,” at least as practiced to date, inherently
conservative and resistant to progressive and feminist proposals
for social changes to counter subordination and secure
equality?


In Evolution and Morality, a group of contributors from philosophy,
law, political science, history, and genetics address
many of the philosophical, legal, and political issues raised
by such questions. This insightful interdisciplinary volume
examines the possibilities of a naturalistic ethics, the implications
of behavioral morality for reform of the criminal law,
the prospects for a biopolitical science, and the relationship
between nature, culture, and social engineering.