Casal and Sturm present two different ways in which philosophy relates to science. Sturm begins by sketching “philosophical naturalism”, a view that tries to answer philosophical questions employing methods and data from the empirical sciences. He then analyses the ongoing debate between the “heuristics and biases” approach and the “bounded rationality” program in order to assess the potential of naturalizing rationality, and its limits. Casal turns to ethics. Ethics is a branch of philosophy usually divided in three levels: metaethics, normative ethics and applied ethics. Casal focuses on the relevance of scientific findings, particularly in evolutionary biology, to major controversies in all these levels.
2. He who understands baboon
would do more towards
metaphysics than Locke.”
CHARLES DARWIN (1838)
And what should they know
of England who only England
know?”
RUDYARD KIPLING (1892)
7. Intelligence, self-
awareness & mental
contiguity
“a thinking intelligent being
that has reason and
reflection and can
consider itself as itself
the same thinking thing
in different times”
JOHN LOCKE
An Essay Concerning
Human Understanding (1690)
Ch. XXVII, Identity and Diversity
Sec 9. Personal identity
8. 1. Minimal intelligence
2. Self-awareness
3. Self-control
4. Sense of time
5. “ of the future
6. “ of the past
7. Capability to relate to others
8. Concern for others
9. Communication
10. Control of existence
11. Curiosity
12. Change and changeability
13. Balance of rationality and feeling
14. Idiosyncrasy
15. Neo-cortical function
J. Fletcher, “Indicators of Humanhood”,J. Walter & T. Shannon, Quality of
Life, (NY: Paulist Press, 1990)
9. Can you be the same person from conception if twinning
can happen 2 weeks later?
12. COGNITIVE CAPACITIES
Abstraction, maths,
Understanding/use/invention
of words
Search/use/manufacture of
tools and medicines
Curiosity, manual dexterity,
Aesthetic appreciation
(sunsets, music, cuisine…)
Sense of humor
Capacity to plan multiple
steps and hope
Long-term emotional memory
Theory of mind
13. MORAL CAPACITIES
Compassion, altruism, food sharing with
young/old/sick, adoption, consolation,
intra and interspecies empathy
Sense of death, support after death,
frustration and hope
Friendship, loyalty, cooperation, reciprocity
Reconciliation initiated by winner, loser or
third party
Punishment and scolding for breaking rules o
harming the group, submissive reaction to
scolding
2nd order preferences controlling 1st order
preferences
Stability of egalitarian distributions,
preference for impartial arbitration, sense
of abuse/ excessive punishment,
proportionality in retaliation, etc.).
Oops
sorry
19. large bodies & groups
empathy
spindle neurons
death rituals
mirror neurons
inter-species altruism
tool use
long term e. memory
linguistic abitility
singleton pregnancies
longevity
number of neurons
Extreme K-reproduction Bottlenose 12 months, orcas 18
Mammalian persons
29. SUMMARY
• There can be a scientific contribution to a
philosophical debate; eg about abortion.
• Philosophical concepts like “personhood”
may contribute to a scientific enquiry.
33. Social inequalities/disadvantages are caused by
social and political structures, which are, eg. racist or
sexist. They are social products or consequences of
wrongdoing.
Justice requires redressing them.
Natural inequalities/disadvantages are matters of
brute luck, not social products, not the product of
injustice.
Regretable but not unjust. Redressing them is not
required or not urgent.
37. SUMMARY
• Skepticism is unpersuasive
• An evolutionary perspective can make a
contribution to a philosophical debate; eg.
on the natural/social distinction.
39. Are moral claims beliefs that aspire to truth?
Yes! No!
Cognitivist Non cognitivist
Emotivists: Hume
Prescriptivist: Hare
Can they approach it?
Sometimes! Never!
Success theorists Error theorists
J.L. Mackie
R. Joyce S. Street
45. Ache, Paraguay 40-50 Machiguenga, Perú 15Aché, Paraguay offer
40+ in ultimatum game
More cooperative less
46. Moral attitudes have evolved because they were
adaptive.
Specific rules also evolved because they were
adaptive.
So evolutionary debunking explanations of moral
norms could be aided with examples from
biology, illustrating
-The argument from diversity
-The argument from pure functionality
47. But success cognitivism may survive.
It is consistent with context-dependency and so
diversity is not decisive.
Arguably we can have adequate reasons to retain
certain beliefs, and place the debunking at the
normative, rather than the metaethical level;
eg.we can explain why racism, nepotism and
homophobia are wrong, and have an evolutionary
debunking explanation of their origin. Our
rejection stands on an even more solid ground.
48. Summary: science is
not threatening to ethics,
or to feminism, and saves us from
investing in the wrong assumptions.
It is essential to address what matters
most urgently, such as climate ethics