The Contingency of the Cultural Evolution of Morality, Debunking, and Theism vs. Naturalism

Can Rational Reflection Save Moral Knowledge from Debunking?

“…In the same way, although mastery of the concepts <cruelty> and <wrong> may afford knowledge of the proposition, "For any x, if x is 13 There is an important exception here for theists like me, who have the option of appealing to divine creative activity, or to divine coordination of evolutionary forces, or some such process. In fact, I think this is the right way to handle the problem, but I cannot argue for that here (see Baggett and Walls 2016;Braddock 2021;Crummett and Swenson 2020;Linville 2009;McKay 2023). 14 Some EDAs challenge the veracity of our moral concepts (Joyce 2006;Morton 2016), but they do not challenge our ability to form, understand, or manipulate moral concepts.…”

“…These predispositions usually do not issue in moral beliefs independently of socialization. Furthermore, some of our moral predispositions may be almost entirely the products of cultural influences, rather than innate biology (Arvan 2020(Arvan , 2021Braddock 2021;Kitcher 2011;Levy and Levy 2020). However, though biological evolution does not determine the contents of our moral beliefs, it constrains them heavily, e.g.…”

“…Moral intuition, therefore, is learned, not innate, and even our ability to learn it is an exaptation, not an adaptation. 8 Whether or not Arvan's story is correct in its details, many philosophers and scientists concur that moral thinking is largely the upshot of cultural development, and there is significant empirical evidence for this (Braddock 2021; Levy and Levy 2020; but see Cline 2015 and Dale 2022 for dissent). In light of this, it seems probable that at least some of our pre-reflective moral notions arose independently of natural selection.…”

“…On the contrary, Braddock (2021) argues convincingly that cultural evolution is highly contingent, in the sense that it easily could have given rise to moral norms incompatible with the ones we now hold, given the vast diversity and complexity of the selection pressures at work in the transmission of ideas. The best evidence for this is that many of the moral judgments realists in western liberal democracies take to be obviouse.g., that women are entitled to education, opportunity, and sexual freedom don't catch on easily in many parts of the world, even among the morally reflective.…”