The Cultural Evolution of Extended Benevolence

In The Descent of Man (1879), Charles Darwin proposed a speculative evolutionary explanation extended benevolence—a human sympathetic capacity that extends to all nations, races, and even sentient beings. This essay draws on twenty-first century social science show Darwin’s is correct in its broad outlines. Extended benevolence manifested institutions such as legal rights democracy, behaviors movements for the protection nonhuman animals, normative attitudes emancipative values commitment promote or welfare animals. These phenomena can be substantially explained by cultural forces trace back three components what called “moral sense”: (1) sympathy, (2) our disposition follow community rules norms, (3) make judgments. likely emerged with “workarounds,” including political ideologies, established an inclusive concern life. It became widespread it now due recently arisen socio-economic conditions have created more opportunities people contact take perspective broader cross-section humanity, well other species.