ABSTRACT
Charles Darwin was concerned to counter the now-pervasive views initially promulgated by Herbert Spencer—that self-interest was primary and morality did not emerge from the tree of life. He spent considerable effort in distinguishing between behaviors that might help an individual better survive in the short term and the characteristics that would help a group survive over generations. Along with natural selection, he emphasized moral evolution among humans through group selection as one of progressive increase (Darwin [1871] 1981; see also Loye 2000). As part of these efforts, Darwin proposed that humans have a “moral sense” that contributes to their evolution, beyond the role of natural selection (Gruber 1974). According to Darwin, humanity’s moral sense arose from the sexual, parental, and social instincts that evolved in mammals generally, but especially in humans, giving rise to the golden rule. Accordingly, “moral behavior was embodied in the nature of the species, and not imposed on the natural world as something foreign to it. . . . Humans are not sacrificing their natures when they act morally; they are responding to them” (Schwartz 2009: 11). Darwin even toyed with the idea that the moral sense was the main propellant of human evolution (Loye 2000).
