Ethics Based On The Science Of Evolution

Towards the end of 1943 and during all of 1944 the war on all Fronts was relentlessly and violently building to a dangerous and complex climax Although the Allies had massively invaded Europe in the early summer of 1944, we didn't see German capitulation for almost a year and even then only after the Russians, renewed from their awful Battle of Stalingrad, were rolling west into the very heartland of Germany, taking Berlin block by block, building by building. With equal ferocity the Allies had rolled east. Eisenhower was poised fifty miles west at the Elbe River. April 30th, Hitler killed himself. Two days later Berlin capitulated. American losses in "Europe" totaled 170,000. The German end came fast. Although the World celebrated Victory in Europe on May 5th Germans had been surrendering in big numbers through late April and early May. By May 15th Allies had imprisoned five million German military personnel. Some of the best news I heard was the surrender of 153 German submarines. The foe in the Pacific would prove as implacable. In contrast to the land war in Europe, for us the war in the Pacific had always been a sea war with island invasions and battles taking place over great distances. A few months after Pearl Harbor the author went to war in the Engineering Department of a shipyard in Los Angeles Harbor and enjoyed a brief but rigorous engineering apprenticeship earning an "Industrial Deferment", which required draft board renewal every six months. In late summer of 1943 the U. S. Merchant Marine Academy accepted him but with a "string attached". Unlike the other three Federal academies, this Academy required a six-month "tour of duty" at sea, preceded by ninety days of "Basic Training", wartime or peacetime.

The book aims to revitalise the interdisciplinary debate about evolutionary ethics and substantiate the idea that evolution science can provide a rational and robust framework for understanding morality. It also traces pathways for knowledge-based choices to be made about directions for future long-term biological evolution and cultural development in view of adaptation to the expected, probable and possible future and the ecological sustainability of our planetary environment The authors discuss ethical challenges associated with the major biosocial sources of human variation: individual variation, inter-personal variation, inter-group variation, and inter-generational variation. This book approaches the long-term challenges of the human species in a holistic way. Researchers will find an extensive discussion of the key theoretical scientific aspects of the relationship between evolution and morality. Policy makers will find information that can help them better understand from where we are coming and inspire them to make choices and take actions in a longer-term perspective. The general public will find food for thoughts.

Evolution, Explanation, Ethics and Aesthetics: Towards a Philosophy of Biology focuses on the dominant biological topic of evolution. It deals with the prevailing philosophical themes of how to explain the adaptation of organisms, the interplay of chance and necessity, and the recurrent topics of emergence, reductionism, and progress. In addition, the extensively treated topic of how to explain human nature as a result of natural processes and the encompassed issues of the foundations of morality and the brain-to-mind transformation is discussed. The philosophy of biology is a rapidly expanding field, not more than half a century old at most, and to a large extent is replacing the interest in the philosophy of physics that prevailed in the first two-thirds of the twentieth century. Few texts available have the benefit of being written by an eminent biologist who happens to be also a philosopher, as in this work. This book is a useful resource for seminar courses and college courses on the philosophy of biology. Researchers, academics, and students in evolutionary biology, behavior, genetics, and biodiversity will also be interested in this work, as will those in human biology and issues such as ethics, religion, and the human mind, along with professional philosophers of science and those concerned with such issues as whether evolution is compatible with religion and/or where morality comes from. Presents the unique perspective of a distinguished biologist with extensive experience in the field who has published much about the subject in a wide variety of journals and edited volumes Covers the philosophical issues related to evolution and biology in an approachable and readable style Includes the most up-to-date treatment of this burgeoning, exciting field within biology Provides the ideal guide for researchers, academics, and students in evolutionary biology, behavior, genetics, and biodiversity

This book describes the application of Artificial Life simulation to evolutionary scenarios of wide ethical interest, including the evolution of altruism, rape and abortion, providing a new meaning to “experimental philosophy”. The authors also apply evolutionary ALife techniques to explore contentious issues within evolutionary theory itself, such as the evolution of aging. They justify these uses of simulation in science and philosophy, both in general and in their specific applications here. Evolving Ethics will be of interest to researchers, enthusiasts, students and interested lay readers in the fields of Artificial Life, philosophy of science, ethics, agent- and individual-based modeling in ecology and the social sciences, computer simulation, evolutionary biology, evolutionary psychology and the social sciences.

Certain to engage scholars, students, and general readers alike, Evolution and Ethics offers a balanced, levelheaded, constructive approach to an often divisive debate.