Social animals are provisioned with pro-social orientations that operate to transcend self-interest. Morality, as used here, describes human versions of such orientations. We explore the evolutionary antecedents of morality in the context of emergentism, giving considerable attention to the biological traits that undergird awareness and our emergent human forms of mind. We suggest that our mora...

The enforcement of morals through legal sanctions is not a new topic to legal philosophers. It has, in the past decade, been the object of a new and thorough examination, though it is still open to further discussion. The "new morality" of the second half of the twentieth century will also contribute to keep the fire alive as a result of the widening gap between the traditional Christian morali...

I am honored to contribute to this volume on Lawrence Kohlberg's work. Kohlberg was always an inspirational figure for me-first, as a psychologist who saw both philosophy and psychology as necessary for an understanding of the phenomena of morality and moral development; and second, as a thinker who invited criticism of his views and who struggled to come to grips with the criticism. As a philo...

I point to a deep and unjustly ignored relation between culture and computation. First, I interpret Piaget’s theory of child development with the language of theoretical computer science. Then I argue that the two different possible manifestations Piagetian disequilibrium are equivalent to two distinct cultural tendencies (what is commonly referred to as the East-West divide). I argue that this...

There is a general tendency among those who talk about youth problems to make pronouncements on moral issues. This is very often done with little knowledge of the facts, so that these problems concerning young people are discussed in something of a vacuum, outside the general context of the social structure in which they live. The value of the Eppels' book lies in the fact that not only have th...

Complex animal societies are most successful if members minimise harms caused to one another and if collaboration occurs. In order to promote this, a moral structure inevitably develops. Hence morality has evolved in humans and in many other species. The attitudes which people have towards other humans and individuals of other species are greatly affected by this biologically–based morality. Th...

Evolutionary theories of morality, beginning with Darwin, have focused on explanations for altruism. More generally, these accounts have concentrated on conscience (self-regulatory mechanisms) to the neglect of condemnation (mechanisms for punishing others). As a result, few theoretical tools are available for understanding the rapidly accumulating data surrounding third-party judgment and puni...