Paradox and Tragedy in Human Morality
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6298889 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Pouwel Slurink (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1994 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 347-378 |
| Publication date | 1994-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Political Science Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0192-5121 • E-ISSN: 1460-373X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/019251219401500403 |
| OpenAlex | W2106561894 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 25 |
Traditional ethics has established itself as an independent disci pline by postulating a "good" independent of all particular desires. It has been assumed that this "good" was something beyond nature, and that man had the capacity to reach out for it by transcending his natural incli nations. In this article, the traditional picture of morality is confronted with modern evolutionary biology. It is shown that goal-directedness, choice, and social behavior can be accounted for in a naturalistic frame work. The purport of concepts like free will, good, and the meaning of life, however, changes dramatically. Specifically, our tendency to objectify values, to postulate an absolute good and an ultimate meaning of life, is unmasked as a strategy of mental territoriality which reveals us as typical participators in the struggle for existence
Absolute (philosophy · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Meaning (existential · Meaning of life · Morality · Natural (archaeology · Naturalism · Social science · Sociology · Tragedy (event · Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social Psychology
Elbow room
Ethics
Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches
Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior
The Evolution of Altruistic Behavior
Group Selection and Kin Selection
The Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism
Darwinism and human affairs
Visual Thinking in the Ice Age
Peacemaking among Primates
The Biology of Moral Systems
The Evolution of Culture in Animals
Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten
Good and Evil
The Expanding Circle
Cultural Materialism
Sociobiology
| Highly cited | No |
|---|