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The limits of evolutionary explanations of morality and their implications for moral progress

Publication ,  Journal Article
Buchanan, A; Powell, R
Published in: Ethics
October 1, 2015

Traditional conservative arguments against the possibility of moral progress relied on underevidenced assumptions about the limitations of human nature. Contemporary thinkers have attempted to fill this empirical gap in the conservative argument by appealing to evolutionary science. Such “evoconservative” arguments fail because they overstate the explanatory reach of evolutionary theory. We maintain that no adequate evolutionary explanation has been given for important features of human morality, namely cosmopolitan and other “inclusivist” moral commitments. We attribute these evolutionarily anomalous features to a capacity for open-ended normativity, which presents a serious obstacle to theorists who wish to draw substantive moral and political lessons from human evolutionary history.

Duke Scholars

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Published In

Ethics

DOI

ISSN

0014-1704

Publication Date

October 1, 2015

Volume

126

Issue

1

Start / End Page

37 / 67

Related Subject Headings

  • Philosophy
  • 5003 Philosophy
  • 22 Philosophy and Religious Studies
  • 18 Law and Legal Studies
  • 16 Studies in Human Society
 

Citation

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Buchanan, A., & Powell, R. (2015). The limits of evolutionary explanations of morality and their implications for moral progress. Ethics, 126(1), 37–67. https://doi.org/10.1086/682188
Buchanan, A., and R. Powell. “The limits of evolutionary explanations of morality and their implications for moral progress.” Ethics 126, no. 1 (October 1, 2015): 37–67. https://doi.org/10.1086/682188.
Buchanan, A., and R. Powell. “The limits of evolutionary explanations of morality and their implications for moral progress.” Ethics, vol. 126, no. 1, Oct. 2015, pp. 37–67. Scopus, doi:10.1086/682188.
Journal cover image

Published In

Ethics

DOI

ISSN

0014-1704

Publication Date

October 1, 2015

Volume

126

Issue

1

Start / End Page

37 / 67

Related Subject Headings

  • Philosophy
  • 5003 Philosophy
  • 22 Philosophy and Religious Studies
  • 18 Law and Legal Studies
  • 16 Studies in Human Society