>If morality was really the self-serving hypocritical thing as this article suggests, stealing would be considered moral.
No because a community that condones stealing as moral would see itself bled dry. It’s not the pathway to good evolutionary fitness. The tension between what a gene “wants” and what the organism “wants” is well-documented within the field of evolution, and you can extrapolate the dynamic to a similar tension between what an individual “wants” and what the community “wants”. The best example of this is “kin selection” where an organism engages in altruistic behavior or even complete sacrifice to benefit their close relatives.
So, morality is doing what is good for the community? That sounds nice (well, depending on who is included and excluded from the definition of the community).
No, my argument is that morality is whatever replicates best. Often it means “doing what is good for the community” because a healthy community is in a better place to replicate its guiding values. But not always.
>If morality was really the self-serving hypocritical thing as this article suggests, stealing would be considered moral.
No because a community that condones stealing as moral would see itself bled dry. It’s not the pathway to good evolutionary fitness. The tension between what a gene “wants” and what the organism “wants” is well-documented within the field of evolution, and you can extrapolate the dynamic to a similar tension between what an individual “wants” and what the community “wants”. The best example of this is “kin selection” where an organism engages in altruistic behavior or even complete sacrifice to benefit their close relatives.
So, morality is doing what is good for the community? That sounds nice (well, depending on who is included and excluded from the definition of the community).
No, my argument is that morality is whatever replicates best. Often it means “doing what is good for the community” because a healthy community is in a better place to replicate its guiding values. But not always.