Evolutionary Ethics and Contemporary Biology

Giovanni Boniolo, Gabriele De Anna (Herausgeber)

Buch | Softcover

224 Seiten

2009
Cambridge University Press (Verlag)
978-0-521-12270-2 (ISBN)

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How can the discoveries made in the biological sciences play a role in a discussion on the foundation of ethics? This book responds to this question by examining how evolutionism can explain and justify the existence of ethical normativity and the emergence of particular moral systems. Written by a team of philosophers and scientists, the essays collected in this volume deal with the limits of evolutionary explanations, the justifications of ethics, and methodological issues concerning evolutionary accounts of ethics, among other topics. They offer deep insights into the origin and purpose of human moral capacities and of moral systems.

Giovanni Boniolo is Full Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the University of Padua. He is the author of many articles and books, including Metode e rappresentaazioni del mondo. Per un'altra Filosofia della scienze and, with P. Viali, Filosofia della scienza and Strumenti per ragionare. Gabriele de Anna is Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Udine. She is the author of Realismo metafisico e rappresentazione mentale and Il pensiero filosofico e politico de Sebastiana De Apollonia.

Introduction Giovanni Boniolo and Gabriele De Anna; Part I. The Limits of Evolutionary Explanations and Justifications of Ethics: 1. Is Darwinian metaethics possible (and if it is, is it well taken)? Michael Ruse; 2. The descent of instinct and the ascent of ethics Giovanni Boniolo; Part II. Methodological Issues Concerning Evolutionary Accounts of Ethics: 3. Are human beings parts of the rest of nature? Christopher Lang, Elliot Sober and Karen Strier; 4. The nature of resemblance, homologies in the nervous system, and behavior correspondence Aldo Fasolo; Part III. How Biological Results Can Help Explaining Morally Relevant Human Capacities: 5. Genetic influences on moral capacity, what genetic mutants can teach us Giovanni Boniolo and Paolo Vezzoni; 6. Evolutionary pharmacology, mental disorders, and ethical behaviour Stefano Canali, Gabriele De Anna and Luca Pani; 7. The biology of human culture and ethics: an evolutionary perspective Stefano Parmigiani, Gabriele De Anna, Danilo Mainardi and Paola Palanza; Part IV. How Biological Results Can Help Explain Moral Systems: 8. Biology to ethics: an evolutionist's view of human nature Francisco Ayala; 9. Between fragile altruism and morality: human evolution and the emergence of normative guidance Philip Kitcher; 10. Will genomics do more for metaphysics than Locke? Alex Rosenberg; Index.

Erscheint lt. Verlag	5.11.2009
Reihe/Serie	Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Biology
Zusatzinfo	Worked examples or Exercises
Verlagsort	Cambridge
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	340 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Ethik
Themenwelt	Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Evolution
ISBN-10	0-521-12270-8 / 0521122708
ISBN-13	978-0-521-12270-2 / 9780521122702
Zustand	Neuware