Problems with Evolutionary Ethics
“Our moral awareness has a robust framework anchored in a good, loving and
just God.” (McQuilkin and Copan 2014, 182-183). To say that ethical values and
duties evolved undermines that quality of the human construct. For example, I
cannot say that “I ought to love my wife” based on an illogical ideology of
naturalism. I know that my wife has value and worth as a human being and a
female. If I say that my love for her is based on an ethical evolutionary
development, then what determines the definition of love? What exactly is love by
evolutionary standards? We cannot say that genetics is the driving force behind
the idea of human worth and value because the standards are ambiguous and
subjective. For example, if I say that I love my wife, do I mean I love to hate my
wife, or I love my wife to death-literally? How absurd to think that any human
being could and would view this as a way for a moral and ethical value. I believe
without the existence of God, a false view of human dignity and a value and
worthlessness toward others are plausible. Since that is not the case (I believe
God does exist), then it seems to me that intrinsically and innately, we value
human dignity based on moral values, and duties by the standard of God, not
humans.
If evolutionary process dictates the human dignity, value and worth, then what is
the origin and bases for this belief system? If genetics is the bases, then that
means humans are meaningless, valueless, worthless, and mindless since
genetics in and of itself has no standards or understanding of the human
construct on all levels (emotionally, intellectually, philosophically, spiritually, etc.).
The phrase “only the strong survive” is basically the contention from an
evolutionary perspective. To take it one step further, that is the same as saying
that humans are animals and therefore, we view life as a survival of the
fittest/every man for him or herself. How is that possible for a civil society and
cultural sense of worth, dignity and value for loving people, helping, and caring for
people? It does not care for human beings since it is no respecter of man. So, the
notion of an evolutionary ethical system that governs people cannot be a valid
standard for individuals, society and culturally. At best is proves the existence of
God when viewed through the lens of objective moral values and duties. In other
words “The fact that we trust that our minds are not systematically deceiving us
makes better sense if we have been designed by a truthful, rational God.”
(McQuilkin and Copan 2014, 181).
Bibliography
McQuilkin, Robertson and Paul Copan: An Introduction to Biblical Ethics: Walking
in the Way
d d d d d d d d d d of Wisdom. Illinois: IVP Academic, 2014).
