Temptations of Evolutionary Ethics

Paul Lawrence Farber

Published by University of California Press 1994

Temptations of Evolutionary Ethics

Paul Lawrence Farber
Edited by: Paul Lawrence Farber

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520920972

Overview
Contents

About this book

Evolutionary theory tells us about our biological past; can it also guide us to a moral future? Paul Farber's compelling book describes a century-old philosophical hope held by many biologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and social thinkers: that universal ethical and social imperatives are built into human nature and can be discovered through knowledge of evolutionary theory.

Farber describes three upsurges of enthusiasm for evolutionary ethics. The first came in the early years of mid-nineteenth century evolutionary theories; the second in the 1920s and '30s, in the years after the cultural catastrophe of World War I; and the third arrived with the recent grand claims of sociobiology to offer a sound biological basis for a theory of human culture.

Unlike many who have written on evolutionary ethics, Farber considers the responses made by philosophers over the years. He maintains that their devastating criticisms have been forgotten—thus the history of evolutionary ethics is essentially one of oft-repeated philosophical mistakes.

Historians, scientists, social scientists, and anyone concerned about the elusive basis of selflessness, altruism, and morality will welcome Farber's enlightening book.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	XI
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Charles Darwin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	10
2. Darwinian Ethics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	22
3. Evolutionary Ethics: Herbert Spencer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	38
4. Darwinian Critics: Thomas Henry Huxley and Alfred Russel Wallace Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	58
5. Early Reception and Evaluation of Evolutionary Ethics: 1870-1890s Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
6. Evolutionary Baroque and Its Furies: 1890-1920 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	96
7. Syntheses, Modern and Otherwise: 1918-1968 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	118
8. Evolutionary Ethics Since 1975: Dodo, Phoenix, or Firebird? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	148
9. Recapitulation, Lessons, and Queries Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	168
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: University of California Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 224
Keywords: Philosophy; Ethics & Moral Philosophy

eBook

Published: August 31, 1994
ISBN: 9780520920972

Paperback

Planned Publication: August 31, 1994
ISBN: 9780520213692