The Immorality of "An Evolutionary Basis for Morality"

One of the tricks that evolutionary psychologists use to defend the claim that they have an evolutionary basis for morality is this:

They take a bunch of things for which they have an evolutionary account, draw a circle around it, and call it "morality". They then brag to each other, to the press, and to the world that they have found an evolutionary basis for morality.

In calling this a "trick", I am not saying that there are evolutionary psychologists sending secret emails back and forth that say, "I know how we can fool the public into thinking that our work is more important than it is." It is a trick in the same sense as, "My eyes are playing tricks on me." it s as much self-deceptive as other-deceptive.

Evolutionary psychologists like to think of their work as important - all researchers do. Consequently, they want to believe themselves that they are studying morality. Furthermore, there is enough similarity between what they study and morality to let the mind wall-paper over the cracks.

Common powers of rationalization then come into play to protect the illusion. These include simply ignoring objections. The agent does not allow them to effect one's thinking on the subject. Instead, they psychologically dismiss these objections while business goes on as usual.

It's the same techniques theists use to protect their belief that there is a god. They do not question their belief, and simply dismiss objections with the passive thought, 'Obviously, they are wrong, but I am not interested in spending the time thinking about those things right now. It is much more exciting and interesting to think about these other things."

The crack that this verbal wallpaper covers is the fact that evolutionary psychologists cannot tell us anything about what we ought and ought not to do. While morality, properly so called, is the study of "ought" statements. Consequently, what the evolutionary psychologist studies is not morality. It is something else - related to but different from morality - that they call "morality" because it makes them feel good.

Unfortunately, this trick has some harmful side effects.

When the evolutionary psychologist steps in front of the public and claims to have discovered an evolutionary basis for morality, the public at large hears this as a claim about an evolutionary proof of the truth of "ought" claims.

Evolutionary psychologists do almost nothing to prevent this misconception precisely because this is the error that is responsible for much of the interest the people have in their work.

This has two effects.

There are those who see through the error, who then see evolutionary psychologists as delusional and dismiss everything else the evolutionary psychologist says. This error feeds into - and thus feeds - a set of beliefs that seek to dismiss evolution itself. "Evolutionary psychologists do not see this obvious crack; we can infer that there is a host of other obvious cracks that the evolutionary theorist has wallpapered over as well."

And there are those who do not see the error who then think, "My evolved dispositions tell me what I ought and ought not to do." They then read into evolution their own likes and dislikes and do as they please, thinking, "Because evolution disposed me to be this way, it must be good and right."

A few who truly understand the field will admit, "Oh, what we are studying does not tell people what they ought and ought not to do." However, I do not know of any who thinks it worthwhile to go to the effort to oppose these mistakes - fighting the misunderstanding where people take, "The evolutionary account of morality is not an evolutionary proof of ought claims." They admit this only in the obscure corners of discussion and in exclusive discussions among themselves, or as a passing comment while they quickly move on to "the important stuff".

There is a moral dimension to this willingness to confuse the public on matters of morality. This type of behavior is morally negligent - it ought not to be done.

Causing people to be confused about what they ought and ought not to do cannot help but cause people to do what they ought not or not do what they ought. It causes them to misdirect the course of their lives in ways that are harmful to themselves and others.

To prevent this, the morally responsible evolutionary psychologists would want to invent a different set of terms - a set that does not invite this confusion between morality and eat the evolutionary psychologist studies. The best way to avoid this confusion is for the evolutionary psychologist to come up with a different term for what they study - a term other than "morality" - and to disavow the claim that they have found an evolutionary basis for morality.

The evolutionary psychologist can answer, "I don't care to go to the effort of preventing these consequences - they mean nothing to me." However, that is the essence of negligence. The negligent person simply is one that lacks concern over the harms her actions may cause others and takes no steps to prevent those harms.

Or the evolutionary psychologist can say, "I have searched my feelings and note that my evolved sense of empathy simply does not motivate me to take these effects into consideration; therefore, your claim that I ought to consider them must be rejected."

To this, I answer, "Thank you for illustrating my point."