dis #2

 

What did Darwin really believe about human morality?

It is commonly though that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution supports a picture of humankind that is similar to Hobbes' "everyone for themselves" attitude about how humans would treat each other in the state of nature. But this reading is incorrect, in fact, Darwin's theory displays many similarities to Hume's. This is not surprising given that Darwin's work is another step in the empiricists' development of a naturalized history of humanity.  In his book, The Descent of Man, Darwin makes it very clear that "survival of the fittest" often means survival of those that work most effectively with others. In a short video on Aeon, psychologist Dacher Keltner explains. 

 Don’t misread Darwin: for humans, ‘survival of the fittest’ means being sympathetic | Aeon Videos 

 

A more in-depth account of Darwin's views can be found here on our Canvas site (click).  

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