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Edited by TigersFan228: 1/5/2020 6:07:49 PM
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How does evolution explain our moral values?

If we evolved from some type of ape, how come we have have moral values? There is no reason for us to care about anyone else besides ourselfs. Yet we care about others and we want people to feel good emotionally and physically. I’m curious on everyone’s thoughts on this. [spoiler]Edit: forgot my tag... again. [/spoiler]
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  • If you think all humans have developed moral values you haven't been paying attention.

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  • Human 1 is eating berries. Human 2 steals some of Human 1’s berries. Human 1 attacks Human 2. Stealing another’s things leads to conflict. People get hurt. Conflict leads to Death. Human 1 really wants Human 2’s wife. Human 2 attacks Human 1. Wanting another’s wife leads to conflict. People get hurt. Conflict leads to Death. Somewhat like that maybe.

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  • It doesn’t necessarily have to. Though if I had to guess, it’s kind of a tribal mentality thing. Safety in numbers. Especially when it comes to mutual interests or shared experiences. Empathy has its pluses.

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  • Do you know how animals learn empathy? Puppies, for example, learn it by biting their brothers and sisters (and their owners) and feeling bad when they see how it hurts them. Dogs are simple creatures, incapable of understanding religion, but naturally compassionate. Humans are the same way. Naturally, our intelligence and communication skills lead to a more solid system of morals.

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    When babies are born, we cut the top of their heads off & insert a special chip that sends a shock into their brain everytime they think something morally wrong. That is why so many people think electricity is the devil!

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  • Because science

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    • This subject has been answered many times. “Morality” evolved because it has an obvious and powerful survival advantage. Groups that co-operate, share resources and protect each other from harm will obviously have a greater chance of survival than groups that murder and fight one another and steal each other’s recourses. Therefore individuals that evolved a psychology that favored altruistic behaviours like sharing and co-operation survived more than selfish “loner” individuals. Although humans have a much more complex “moral” system than other animals, the concept of altruism and simple morality is evident in many species. Altruism is common in the animal kingdom because it’s evolutionary beneficial to many species. Especially social animals. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/altruism-biological/ [quote]Altruistic behaviour is common throughout the animal kingdom, particularly in species with complex social structures. For example, vampire bats regularly regurgitate blood and donate it to other members of their group who have failed to feed that night, ensuring they do not starve. In numerous bird species, a breeding pair receives help in raising its young from other ‘helper’ birds, who protect the nest from predators and help to feed the fledglings. Vervet monkeys give alarm calls to warn fellow monkeys of the presence of predators, even though in doing so they attract attention to themselves, increasing their personal chance of being attacked. In social insect colonies (ants, wasps, bees and termites), sterile workers devote their whole lives to caring for the queen, constructing and protecting the nest, foraging for food, and tending the larvae. Such behaviour is maximally altruistic: sterile workers obviously do not leave any offspring of their own—so have personal fitness of zero—but their actions greatly assist the reproductive efforts of the queen.[/quote] Morality is what we call a set of behaviors and social norms that encourage social cohesion. While “morality” may seem counterintuitive to the concept of “survival of the fittest” it’s not really. Yes evolution is about survival of the individual. But sometimes the best way for an individual to survive is through altruistic and non-selfish cooperation with others. The success and survival of the whole group ensures the success and survival of the individual. This is why highly social species have evolved so many times. There is safety in the herd and “morals” are behaviors that encourage herd cohesion. Here’s a whole article about the subject: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2018.00017/full I would also recommend reading “The Selfish Gene” by Richard Dawkins that also covers this subject.

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    • There’s nothing wrong with asking these types of questions, despite people downvoting you to oblivion. There absolutely is an evolutionary reason that we care for others. Similarly, there’s an evolutionary reason we care for our immediate family the strongest... our extended family slightly less strongly, our “group” slightly less strongly and others less strongly. The goal of our genes (coined “the selfish gene” by Dawkins) is to survive past our generation. This can mean we take selfish actions, but our genes also survive when our relatives survive. Further, participating unselfishly in a “tit-for-tat” society means we’re likely to benefit from behaving morally. If I didn’t make sense (quite possible) let me know if you need me to expand somewhere.

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      • Well, considering that dinosaurs are a hoax used to promote the false narrative of scarce fossil fuel resources, which is a huge bummer, it doesn't. It also fails to explain consciousness, which defies time, while evolution is completely dependent on time.

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        • Edited by Caggus: 1/7/2020 12:46:54 AM
          My guess is that they develop randomly out of free will just like a mutation would out of genes. Someone developed moral values because of free will and this started a snowball effect which caused others to see it too. By nature, humans are generally compassionate and empathetic. Sociopaths or Psychopaths generally don’t have moral values, that’s something important to note, people with brains that work like 9/10 people (1:10 I believe is the statistic of sociopaths, feel free to disagree with that as I’m not sure it’s entirely accurate and I’ll edit the statement to the correct information if it’s wrong) will develop moral values based around the society around them, at one point someone developed it of their own free will and this idea grew. Empathy and compassion in older times also equals friends and allies which equals more confidence in yourself given you now have protection and can survive easier knowing you have allies. So it could also be that it developed as a survival instinct.

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        • We can't know anything for sure until we see it happen naturally. Currently to my knowledge, most apes feel pretty much every emotion we do and at least have the most basic form of empathy. There is in fact some research that suggests that animals do in fact have some sense of morality and a sense of right and wrong.

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          • Edited by The Superego: 1/5/2020 8:16:48 PM
            Because community is survival for us, we cannot survive completely alone. Morality facilitates good community behavior and thus allows you to survive.

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              If we didn’t evolve from apes, why do we have all the same primal instincts?

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              • It's a primal byproduct that is intended to maintain the species as a whole. It's the reason there's herds of sheep, packs of wolves, and flocks of birds. By keeping an eye out for the others, in turn your own probability of survival increases. If a mother is wired to care about their child, the child lives to prolong the species by carrying on the cycle. We are a product of our own chemical engineering.

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                • Edited by Santa Claus: 1/6/2020 3:22:56 AM
                  Its much harder to develop a society when some cu[i]n[/i]ts running around beating people to death, or stealing peoples food or burning down nearby forests, or pissing on oogs tent cause he stole his girl

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                  • We care about family ans friends, we do not give a shit about anyone else unless they have the potential to become one of those. Morals come with advanced thinking as well as being forced by society.

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                    • I'm pretty sure it was an instinct for ancient humans to make allies to increase the odds of survival

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                    • Well, even most apes feel sympathy to their own species, and sometimes even other species. That being said, humans hold a level of sapience and emotional capacity that other animals do not. These leads people to seek a meaning and drive deeper than “eat, grow, reproduce, die.” This meaning is answered through connection; connection to a person, a cause, etc. all bring feelings of fulfillment and contentment that, in absence, often lead to depression.

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                    • I already answered, but I thought of a different way to think about/answer this question. As a sort of “thought experiment,” imagine this hypothetical scientific test... You take any social species - a species that depend on one another for survival - and separate them into two groups. Group A: these individuals are completely selfish and do not behave “morally.” Group B: these individuals exhibit “moral” or unselfish behavior. Which group do you predict would survive, reproduce, and generally thrive the best?

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                      • Because people evolved to be empathetic. Empathy was required for primitive humans to work together, so those that were more empathetic bred and those that weren't didnt. Genetics took over from there.

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                      • [quote]If we evolved from some type of ape, how come we have have moral values? There is no reason for us to care about anyone else besides ourselfs. Yet we care about others and we want people to feel good emotionally and physically. I’m curious on everyone’s thoughts on this.[/quote] [I believe it is because of the ability to feel emotion, more specifically to feel emotion on a higher level than most animals. Our deeper levels of feeling emotions like love, hate, disgust, and joy allow us at least a basic sense of right and wrong. This basic sense of right and wrong forms our values based on how we react when thing happens to us, which then forms into our moral compass. Granted the forming of those values can be influenced by the values of those in the region you grow up in, how you were treated growing up, and the values any organizations you were a part of (be it by choice or not). Does my answer adequately satisfy your inquiry?]

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                        • Before we had small brain. We evolve. Now big brain time.

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                          • It doesn’t.

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                          • Humans are social animals. We have a need to "fit in" with the herd. Going against the herd can get you kicked out. That's bad for you. Having assholes in the herd is bad for the herd. That's my understanding of the role of natural selection in morality anyway.

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                            • We’re social animal, and species that can organize and function in groups survive and thrive more than solitary ones. More eyes to watch for predators. More hand and feet to fend off intruders. More eyes to watch children. More bodies to hunt for food and gather resources. Morality serves the evolutionary function of smoothing social relationships in the group. Because the group will unravel if only the strongest, most aggressive and most ruthless members benefit from it. It’s why dictatorship seldom last very long, and kings struggle to hold onto their crowns.

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                            • Edited by cRaZyT101: 1/6/2020 12:09:53 AM
                              Murder is bad. Killing your tribesmen weakens the tribe, thus lowering your chances of survival. "For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack."

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