Journal of Philosophical Investigations

نوع مقاله : مقاله علمی- پژوهشی

نویسندگان

1 دکتری فلسفه دین، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، واحد علوم و تحقیقات، تهران، ایران

2 استادیار موسسه پژوهشی حکمت و فلسفه ایران

چکیده

Ayala (American philosopher and biologist) has presented new theories on the evolutionary ethical explanations. Due to the large scope of Ayala’s discussion on evolutionary ethics, only some of his theories will be reviewed in this paper after mentioning Ayala’s theoretical foundations about the formation of moral sense and moral norms. Following Darwin, Ayala distinguishes the moral sense and the moral norms accepted by the human community. Therefore, he believes that the biological-natural processes lead to the evolution of the human mind; this growth and development in the mind results in the moral sense in the human. On the one hand, the norms and ethical systems of any human society have been emerged due to the cultural evolution in that country. Hence, cultural evolution is the foundation of Ayala’s ethical pluralism theory. As such, Ayala advocates the objectivity of moral values and Kantian subjective morality. He rejects the dependence of the moral sense on evolutionary mechanisms such as group selection and relative selection since he, like Kant, regards human rationality as the only reason for justifying moral sense. In this paper, Ayala’s theories on ethical pluralism and the role of cultural evolution in the formation of moral norms are discussed and criticized. Ayala’s success in establishing a universal normative ethical system will be approached skeptically; however, his biological explanation of the origin of moral sense can be considered as a Kantian account of morality.

کلیدواژه‌ها

عنوان مقاله [English]

Critique and Investigation of the Evolutionary Ethical Behavior Explanations based on Francisco Ayala’s Theories

نویسندگان [English]

  • Haleh Abdollahi Rad 1
  • Hassan Miandari 2

1 PhD Degree in Philosophy of Religion and Modern Issues of Theology. Science and Research Branch. Islamic Azad University. Tehran. Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Institute for Research in Philosophy, Tehran

چکیده [English]

Ayala (American philosopher and biologist) has presented new theories on the evolutionary ethical explanations. Due to the large scope of Ayala’s discussion on evolutionary ethics, only some of his theories will be reviewed in this paper after mentioning Ayala’s theoretical foundations about the formation of moral sense and moral norms. Following Darwin, Ayala distinguishes the moral sense and the moral norms accepted by the human community. Therefore, he believes that the biological-natural processes lead to the evolution of the human mind; this growth and development in the mind results in the moral sense in the human. On the one hand, the norms and ethical systems of any human society have been emerged due to the cultural evolution in that country. Hence, cultural evolution is the foundation of Ayala’s ethical pluralism theory. As such, Ayala advocates the objectivity of moral values and Kantian subjective morality. He rejects the dependence of the moral sense on evolutionary mechanisms such as group selection and relative selection since he, like Kant, regards human rationality as the only reason for justifying moral sense. In this paper, Ayala’s theories on ethical pluralism and the role of cultural evolution in the formation of moral norms are discussed and criticized. Ayala’s success in establishing a universal normative ethical system will be approached skeptically; however, his biological explanation of the origin of moral sense can be considered as a Kantian account of morality.

کلیدواژه‌ها [English]

  • evolutionary biology
  • cultural evolution
  • moral norm
  • rationality
  • moral pluralism
-       Ayala,F.J (2016), Evolution, Explanation, Ethics, and Aesthetics, Elsevier Inc
-       Avic, John.c & Ayala, F. J. (2007), In the lifht of evolution- The national academies press, Washington, D.C
-       Ayala , Francisco , J. (2008), where is Darwin 200 years later ? , Journal of Genetics , Vol . 87 , No. 4
-       Ayala, F. J. & Arp, R (2010), Contemporary debates in philosophy of Biology, Blackwell Publishing.
-       Ayala, F. J. (2007) , Darwins gift to science and religion , Joseph Henry presss, Washington dc
-       Ayala, F. J. (2006), Biology to ethics: An evolotionists view of human nature-in: Baniolo, G. & De-Anna, G , Evolutionary ethics and contemporary biology, Cambridge university press.
-       Ayala, F. J. (2010) ,What the biological sciences can and cannot contribute to ethics. In : Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Biology, eds Ayala. F. J. & Arp.R Wiley-Blackwell, Malden, MA, pp 316–336.
-       Ayala, F. J. (2008), Darwin’s greatest discovery: Design without designer. Proc Natl Acad Science USA.
-       Ayala, F. J. (1987), The Biological Roots of Morality. In: Biology and Philosophy, By D. Reidel Publishing Company. Department of Genetics, University of California.
-       Ayala, F. J. (1995), The Difference of Being Human: Ethical Behavior as an Evolutionary Byproduct. In : Biology, Ethics and the Origin of Life, ed: H. Rolston III, 113–135. Boston and London: Jones and Bartlett.
-       Ayala. F. J. & Cela-Condea.Camilo (2004), Evolution of Morality, In: Handbook of Evolution ,Vol.I :the evolution of humans societies and cultures, Edit by: Waketits. F. m. & Antweiler. C- WILEY-VCH Verlag CmbH & Co. KCaA
-       Ayala. F. J. (2008), Human Evolution: The Three Grand Challenges of Human Biology, In: The Cambridge Companion to philosophy of biology, Edited by: David L. Hull& Michael Ruse- Cambridge University Press
-       Baniolo, J. & de-Anna (2006), Evolutionary Ethics and Contemporary Biology, Cambridge University Press
-       Bulbulia. J. & Frean. M (2009), Religion as Superorganism On David Sloan Wilson’s Darwin’s Cathedral (2002)- To appear in: M. Stausberg (Ed.) Contemporary Theories of Religion: A Critical Companion. New York: Routledge.
-       C. Becker, Lawrance & B. Becker, Charlott (2001), Encyclopedia Of Ethics- second edition- Routledge.
-       Dobzhansky, Theodosius, (1973), Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution , In : The American Biology Teacher- Vol. 35, No. 3 (Mar., 1973), pp. 125-126.
-       Kant, Immanuel (1997), Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals- Cambridge texts in the history of philosophy, Cambridge University Press.
-       Kartwright. John. (2000), Evolution and human behavior: Darwinian perspectives on hutmn nature- A Bradford Book.
-       Nagel, Thomas (1979), Mortal Questions-Cambridge university press.
-       Ruse, M. (2008), Evolution and Religion, A Dialogue, Rowman & Little fild publishers, Inc.
-       Ruse, M. & Wilson, E. (1986), The evolution of ethics. New Scientist, Philosophy, Vol. 61, No. 236 (Apr., 1986), pp. 173-192- Cambridge University Press on behalf of Royal Institute of Philosophy.
-       Wilson, E. (1978), On human nature. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
-       Wilson, E. (1975), Sociobiology: The new synthesis. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University.seventh printing, 1982.
-       Wilson, David (2002), Darwin’s cathedral: evolution, religion, and the nature of society, The University of Chicago Press.
CAPTCHA Image