Understanding Morality from an Evolutionary Perspective: Challenges and Opportunities |
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| Authors: | Matthew W Keefer |
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| Institution: | Department of Educational Psychology, Research, and Evaluation, University of Missouri–St. Louis |
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| Abstract: | In recent years, there has been a proliferation of new research on moral thinking informed by evolutionary theory. The new findings have emanated from a wide variety of fields. While there is no shortage of theoretical models that attempt to account for specific research findings, Matthew Keefer's goals in this essay are more general. First, he examines the strength of the evolutionary approach to understanding morality and moral emotions as adaptations to cooperation. Second, he considers the importance of unconscious processing for generating ethical (or unethical) behavior and the complex relation among moral emotions, intuitions, and conscious moral reasoning. Third, he underscores the importance of understanding self‐deception and self‐serving biases in moral thinking and behavior. Keefer ends the essay with a discussion of some implications of these considerations for professional ethics and moral education. |
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