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Nothing in Ethics Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution? Natural Goodness and Evolutionary Biology

Odenbaugh, Jay (2014) Nothing in Ethics Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution? Natural Goodness and Evolutionary Biology. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Philippa Foot (2001) and Rosalind Hursthouse (1999), along with other philosophers, have argued for a metaethical position, the natural goodness approach, that claims moral evaluations are, or are on a par with, teleological claims made in the biological sciences. Specifically, an organism’s flourishing is characterized by how well they function as specified by the species to which they belong. In this essay, I first sketch the Neo-Aristotelian natural goodness approach. Second, I argue that critics who claim that this sort of approach is inconsistent with evolutionary biology due to its species essentialism are in- correct. Third, I consider the prospects of understanding ethical normativity as a species of biological teleology claiming that this would be incompatible with our considered moral judgments. Fourth, after presenting gene-culture coevolution theory, I argue that the only way of reconciling naturalism and normativity in accordance with the natural goodness approach requires amending the selected effects function account to include cultural evolution. However, this approach, though not biologically reductionistic, still generates claims incompatible with our considered moral judgments. Finally, I end with a discussion of methodology and revisionistic moral theories.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Odenbaugh, Jay jay@lclark.edu
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory
General Issues > Ethical Issues
Depositing User: jay odenbaugh
Date Deposited: 03 Apr 2014 19:25
Last Modified: 03 Apr 2014 19:25
Item ID: 10586
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory
General Issues > Ethical Issues
Date: 2014
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/10586

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