Evolution and Ethics
Oxford University
January 18-29, 2010
Seminar Directors: Larry Arnhart, Kelly James Clark and Ryan Nichols

Course Description
The time has come, E. O. Wilson bravely trumpeted, "for ethics to be temporarily removed from the hands of the philosophers and biologicized" (Wilson, 1975, p. 562). Wilson seeks to divorce ethics from God (or any transcendental source or warrant), hoping "that if we explore the biological roots of moral behavior, and explain their material origins and biases, we should be able to fashion a wise and enduring ethical consensus" (Wilson, 1998). Ethics biologicized is ethics based on the evolution of various traits. "True character," he claims, "arises from a deeper well than religion" (Wilson, 1998). Can ethics survive biologicization-can it be grounded in evolution alone? Can ethics be divorced from a transcendental or religious foundation? Are evolutionary and religious accounts of morality in conflict?
There are two caricatures-two extremes-associated with evolutionary ethics, neither of which is justified. The first, usually offered by early critics of evolutionary ethics, holds that evolutionary ethics favors either selfishness of a particularly sexual variety or Social Darwinism (sometimes called "eugenics")-the cleansing of the human race of unfit members. The second caricature, offered by overly optimistic defenders of evolutionary ethics, holds a naive and romantic extension of animal traits and behaviors to human behaviors.
The best of evolutionary ethics finds itself somewhere between these extremes of sexual selfishness and Social Darwinism, on the one hand, and the romantic view of our connection to nature on the other. Can we, drawing upon our evolutionary history, find within our pre-human ancestors the basic ingredients of human morality? This seminar will examine the prospects and promise of evolutionary theory and some of its implications for religious belief. The participants will first consider the nature of morality and then various ways that evolutionary ethicists have sought to explain human morality.

Directors
Larry Arnhart is a Presidential Research Professor of Political Science at Northern Illinois University. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago and his B.A. at the University of Dallas. He is the author of four books, including Darwinian Natural Right: The Biological Ethics of Human Nature and Darwinian Conservatism, and many articles. He is the Associate Editor of The Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics, a four-volume collection published by Macmillan Reference. His research ranges broadly over the history of political philosophy and evolutionary theory. His textbook on political philosophy--Political Questions: Political Philosophy from Plato to Rawls--has been adopted as a text at over 300 universities. He is widely known for arguing that an evolutionary understanding of human nature supports a naturalistic view of ethics that he calls "Darwinian natural right." His Darwinian ethics has provoked a controversy among philosophers and social theorists that has received wide publicity, including a front-page article in the New York Times. His research has been supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Earhart Foundation, and the Liberty Fund. He writes a blog at darwinianconservatism.blogspot.com.
Kelly James Clark is Professor of Philosophy at Calvin College and Program Director of "Values and Virtues in Contemporary China" which was generously funded by the John Templeton Foundation. An accomplished philosopher with a focused interest on ethics, epistemology and Chinese philosophy, he is the author, editor, or co-author of more than ten books and author of over fifty articles; his books include The Story of Ethics, Return to Reason (Peking University Press) and Faith, Knowledge and Naturalism (Peking University Press).
Ryan Nichols is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Cal State Fullerton. His expertise is in the history of ideas, experimental philosophy and philosophy of religion. In the last few years he has published two books. The first, Thomas Reid's Theory of Perception (Oxford, 2007), is a research monograph, and the second, Philosophy Through Science Fiction (Routledge, 2008, with N. Smith & F. Miller) is a mass-market paperback. His work has appeared in Journal for the History of Philosophy, Philosophical Quarterly, British Journal for the History of Philosophy and The Monist. His current research combines several of his interests in an effort at offering a naturalistic account of Early Confucian moral philosophy, psychology and religion.

Books
Larry Arnhart. Darwinian Natural Right: The Biological Ethics of Human Nature. State University of New York Press, 1998.
Justin Barrett, Why Would Anyone Believe in God? Alta Mira Press, 2004.
Kenneth Blanchard, ed., Darwinian Conservatism: A Disputed Question. Imprint Academic, 2009.
Philip Clayton and Jeff Schloss, Evolution and Ethics. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004.
Charles Darwin, Descent of Man, 2nd ed. Penguin Classics, 2004.
Frans De Waal, Primates and Philosophers. Princeton University Press, 2009.
Richard Joyce, The Evolution of Morality. The MIT Press, 2007.
Leonard Katz. Evolutionary Origins of Morality. Imprint Academic, 2000.
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong. Moral Psychology: The Evolution of Morality. The MIT Press, 2007.

Preparatory Readings
Please read in their entirety prior to the start of the seminar: Richard Joyce, The Evolution of Morality, Larry Arnhart. Darwinian Natural Right, Frans De Waal, Primates and Philosophers, and Justin Barrett, Why Would Anyone Believe in God?. We also recommend reading as much as possible from the assigned readings below.

Themes and Readings
Jan. 18: Introduction

Jan. 19: Darwin's Evolutionary Ethics

• Charles Darwin, Descent of Man, pages 17-22, 120-174, 675-689.
• St. George Jackson Mivart, "Darwin's Descent of Man," in David Hull, Darwin and His Critics (University of Chicago Press, 1973) (PDF)
• Randal Keynes, Darwin, His Daughter, & Human Evolution (Riverhead Books, 2002), pages 1-2, 218-256. (PDF)

Jan. 20: The Animal Roots of Ethics

• Frans de Waal, Primates and Philosophers, pages 3-67, 98-158.

Jan. 21: The Biological Ethics of Human Nature

• Arnhart, Darwinian Natural Right, pages 6-13, 17-20, 29-49, 89-121, 123-124, 149-170, 201-230.

• Clayton and Schloss, eds, Evolution and Ethics, pages 187-220.

Jan. 22: The Darwinian and Religious Grounds of Ethics

• Kenneth Blanchard, ed., Darwinian Conservatism, pages 35-111, 165-183, 196-220, 228-242.

Jan. 25: The Theoretical Interface

• Flanagan, Sarkissian & Wong, 'Naturalizing Ethics' (1-26) in Sinnott-Armstrong, Moral Psychology. Read also 27-53.
• Ruse, Michael. "Evolutionary Ethics, Past and Present." In Clayton & Schloss, Evolution and Ethics, pages 27-49.

Jan. 26: Prosociality as Evolutionary Origins of Morality

• Cosmides & Tooby, 'Adaptations for Social Exchange.' (In J Barkow, L Cosmides and J Tooby (eds). The Adapted Mind. NY: Oxford UP, 163-228). (PDF)
• Boehm, Christopher. "Explaining the Prosocial Side of Moral Communities." In Clayton & Schloss, Evolution and Ethics, pages 78-100.
• Katz, Chapter 2, and pages 79-103; 103-185.

Jan. 27: Moral emotions

• Lieberman, D. 'Moral Sentiments Relating to Incest: Discerning Adaptations from By-products.' (165-191) In Sinnott-Armstrong, Moral Psychology. Also 191-209.
• Richerson & Boyd, 'Darwinian Evolutionary Ethics: Between Patriotism and Sympathy' in Clayton & Schloss, Evolution and Ethics, pages 50-78.

Jan. 28: Altruism, Reciprocal Altruism, & Group Selection

• Katz, Chapter 3, and pages185-207; 207-295.

Jan. 29: Conclusions; Presentations

This seminar is generously funded by the John Templeton Foundation.