Why do humans help each other — and did evolution make us do it? Elliott Sober unpacks one of philosophy’s sharpest distinctions: altruism in everyday psychology (genuinely caring about others) versus altruism in evolutionary biology (helping behaviour with a cost to oneself, no mind required). Darwin thought the two were connected. Sober isn’t so sure — and the difference matters enormously for how we understand ethics and morality.
Elliott R. Sober is an American philosopher noted for his work in philosophy of biology and general philosophy of science. He is Hans Reichenbach Professor and William F. Vilas Research Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
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Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.
#PhilosophyOfBiology #Evolution #Altruism #Morality #Ethics
0:00 Can evolution explain human morality?
0:40 Altruism in everyday psychology vs. evolutionary biology
1:28 The evolutionary definition — no mind required
2:14 Worker bees and mindless altruism
2:38 Can evolutionary altruism explain human ethics?
3:04 Darwin’s argument — groups of cooperators outcompete selfish individuals
4:05 The challenge to group selection
4:21 The wrinkle in Darwin’s idea — caring vs. moral systems
5:09 How human morality goes beyond helping behavior
6:54 Is evolutionary biology relevant to ethics at all?
7:42 Descriptive vs. normative questions about morality
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