Skip to main content
Log in

Obligation and the new naturalism

  • Published:
Biology and Philosophy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Although it has become increasingly evident that an adequate theory of obligation must rest on evolutionary biology and human ethology, attempts toward this end need to explore the full range of personal, cultural, and political obligations observed in our species. The “new naturalism” reveals the complexity of social behavior and the defects of reductionist models that oversimplify the foundations of human duties and rights. Ultimately, this approach suggest a return to the Aristotelian concept of “natural justice”.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Bibliography

  • Alexander, Richard D.: 1979, Darwinism and Human Affairs. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alexander, Richard D.: 1987, The Biology of Moral Systems. N.Y.: Aldine de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alexander, Richard D., et al.: 1979, Sexual Dimorphism and Breeding Systems in Pennepeds, Ungulates, Primates, and Humans. In N. Chagnon & W. Irons, (eds.), Evolutionary Biology and Human Social Behavior. N. Scituate, MA: Duxbury Press. Pp. 402–435.

    Google Scholar 

  • Axelrod, Robert: 1984, The Evolution of Cooperation. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barash, David: 1977, Sociobiology and Behavior. New York: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beals, Allan R.: 1963, Golapur: A South Indian Village. N.Y.: Holt Rinehart, & Winston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, Lawrence C.: 1986, Reciprocity. London: Routledge and Keagan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birke, Lynda: 1986, Women, Feminism, and Biology: The Feminist Challenge. N.Y.: Methuen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohannan, Paul: 1963, Social Anthropology. N.Y.:Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonner, John Tyler: 1980, The Evolution of Culture in Animals. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, Donald T.: 1980, Social Morality Norms as Evidence of Conflict between Biological Human Nature and Social System Requirements. In G. Stent, (ed.), Morality as a Biological Phenomenon. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 67–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chagnon, Napoleon and Irons, William, (eds.): 1979, Evolutionary Biology and Human Social Behavior: An Anthropological Perspective. Scituate, MA: Duxbury Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chase, Ivan and Theodore de Witt: 1987, Vacancy Chains in Human and Nonhuman Animals. social Science Information, in press.

  • Dawkins, Richard: 1976, The Selfish Gene. N.Y.: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Waal, Frans: 1982, Chimpanzee Politics. London: Jonathan Cape.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dickemann, Mildred.: 1979, The Ecology of Mating Systemsin Hypergynous Dowry Societies, Social Science Information 18, 163–195.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flathman, Richard E.: 1972, Political Obligation. N.Y.: Atheneum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox, Robin: 1975, Primate Kin and Human Kinship. In Robin Fox, (ed.), Biosocial Anthropology. London: Malaby. Pp. 9–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilligan, Carol: 1982, In a different Voice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodall, Jane: 1982, Order without Law Journal of Social and Biological Structures 5, 353–360; reprinted in M. Gruter and P. Bohannan, (eds.) Law, Biology, and Culture. Santa Barbara: Ross-Erikson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruter, Margaret and Bohannan, Paul, (eds.): 1983, Law, Biology, and Culture. Santa Barbara: Ross-Erikson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruter, Margaret and Masters, Roger D., (eds.): 1986, Ostracism: a Social and Biological Phenomenon. N.Y.: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, William D.: 1964, The Genetical Evolution of Social Behavior. Journal of Theoretical Biology 7, 1–52; partly reprinted in A. Caplan, (ed.), The Sociobiology Debate, pp. 191–209.

  • Hamilton, William D.: 1975, Innate Social Aptitudes of Man. In R. Fox, (.), Biosocial Anthropology. London: Malaby. Pp. 133–155.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, Marvin: 1977, Cannibals and Kings. N.Y.: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hinde, Robert A.: 1982, Ethology. Glasgow, Scotland: William Collins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirshleifer, Jack: 1985, The Expanding Domain of Economics. American Economic Review 75, 53–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, Lawrence: 1981, The Philosophy of Moral Development. San Francisco: Harper and Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kummer, Hans: 1979, On the Value of Social Relationshipsto Nonhuman Primates: A Heuristic Scheme. In Mario von Cranach, et al., (eds.), Human Ethology. Cambridge,England: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 381–395.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockard, Joan S., (ed.): 1980, The Evolution of Human Social Behavior. N.Y.: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowie, Robert H.: 1961, Primitive Society. New York: Harper Torchbooks.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lumsden, Charles J. and Wilson, Edward O.: 1981, Genes, Mind, and Culture. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGuire, Michael T. and Raleigh, Michael J.: 1986, Behavioral and Physiological Correlates of Ostracism. In M. Gruter and R. Masters, (eds.), Ostracism: A Social and Biological Phenomenon. N.Y.: Elsevier. Pp. 39–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martinez-Col, J. C.: 1986, A Bioeconomic Model of Hobbes' “State of Nature”. Social Science Information 25, 493–505.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masters, Roger D.: 1964, World Politics as a Primitive Political System. World Politics 16, 595–619.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masters, Roger D.: 1964, Genes, Language, and Evolution, Semiotica 2, 295–320.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masters, Roger D.: 1981, The Value — and Limits — of Sociobiology. In E. White, (ed.), Sociobiology and Human Politics. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books. Pp. 135–165.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masters, Roger D.: 1984, Explaining “Male Chauvinism” and “Feminism”: Cultural Differences in Male and Female Reproductive Strategies. In M. Watts, (ed.), Biopolitics and Gender. N.Y.: Haworth Press. Pp. 165–210.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masters, Roger D.: 1987, Gender and Political Cognition: Integrating Sociobiology, Ethology, and Political Science. Paper presented to Annual Meeting of American Political Science Association, Chicago, Ill. September 5, 1987.

  • Masters, Roger D.: 1989, The Nature of Politics. New Haven: Yale University Press (forthcoming).

    Google Scholar 

  • Masters, Roger D., Sullivan, Denis G., Lanzetta, John T., McHugo, Gregory J., and Englis, Basil G.: 1986, The Facial Displays of Leaders: Toward an Ethology of Human Politics, Journal of Social and Biological Structures 9, 319–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maynar-SSmith, John: 1978, The Evolution of Behavior. Scientific American 239, 176–192.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nozick, Robert: 1974, Anarchy, State, and Utopia. N.Y.: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rawls, John: 1971, A Theory of Justice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruse, Michael: 1986, Taking Darwin Seriously. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sayers, Janet: 1982, Biological Politics. London: Tavistock.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schubert, Glendon: 1987, Sexual Politics: Some Biosociopsychological Problems, Political Psychology 8, 61–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, B. F.: 1965, Science and Human Behavior. N.Y.: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trivers, Robert: 1971, The Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism. Quarterly Review of Biology 46, 35–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trivers, Robert: 1974, Parent-offspring Conflict, American Zoologist 14, 249–264.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trivers, Robert: 1981, Sociobiology and Politics. In E. White, (ed.), Sociobiology and Human Politics. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books. Pp. 1–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Hooff, J.A.. R. A. M.: 1969, The Facial Displays of Catyrrhine Monkeys and Apes. In D. Morris, (ed.), Primate Ethology. N.Y.: Doubleday-Anchor. Pp. 9–81.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Masters, R.D. Obligation and the new naturalism. Biol Philos 4, 17–32 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00144037

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00144037

Key Words

Navigation