Presents the author’s view of the best current positions on certain core philosophical and psychological problems. These positions together suggest a skeptical or nihilist perspective modified by evolutionary psychology and contemporary philosophy that embraces our desire to live as best we can and the relative and psychological reality of values, free will and other phenomena while recognizing limitations on their foundations and our understanding. Readers may want to start with the first entry. - Marc Krellenstein (personal info here)
It seems likely that our moral sense — the very existence and ‘ought’ of moral judgments as well as many of the particular moral precepts that exist — has its origins in evolution. An innate sense of sympathy, tit-for-tat reciprocity and other similar traits probably provided evolutionary advantages when they first appeared, increasing the likelihood of the survival of the individual or perhaps a group with such shared characteristics. Individual choice, culture and, more generally, the sort of human brain given by evolution that allows for our apparent ability to choose and the creation of cultures can then take such morality far beyond what was given in evolution. As Nozick (2001) explains, deeply rooted norms become efficient ways for biology and/or culture to maintain the benefits of coordinated behavior…we don’t need to reason through every situation, and norms may reinforce overall beneficial behavior when reasoning alone wouldn’t get there (e.g., in ‘Prisoner’s Dilemma’ situations where individuals do better only if both cooperate rather than act in their apparent self-interest).
(Revised October 5, 2006)