Investigations into evolutionary explanations of our behavior.

Except for many who live in the Bible Belt, most people agree that our far ancestors were apes. Evolutionary thought has radical consequences about how we think of our behavior. Often we explain our behavior in terms evolutionary explanations, ´I did like to have a strong husband because of my genes .´ However, evolutionary biologists doubt that such explanations are objectively true. Statement such as the above are often post-hoc rationalizations that hide peoples deeper motives. Anthropologists can ask people for reasons for their behavior and consider them automatically to be true. Evolutionary biologists do not require subjective reasons, they need objective causes.

Deeper causes

Evolutionary biologists search for deeper causes that explain our behavior. The most deep cause and also the main cause is: The struggle to survive by the collective group. The reason why we protect our children and friends can thus be clarified by evolutionary theory. It helps us to survive as a group. From this it follows that both conflict and cooperation can be explain using the same theory. Cooperation is then just the other side of the same coin. Altruism is thus just as morally neutral as the jaws of a crocodile. The good Samaritan suddenly does not appear as being good, Darwin´s crocodile consumes his goodness.

Being determined

Evolutionary theory has altered our self-image. In Christianity and in the Humanists tradition humans where considered to by on top of an order, having an higher moral than animals, plants or stones. Democratic states and their laws suppose their citizens to be free humans who are thus accountable for their own actions. Darwin´s crocodile makes us nervous. He does not only threaten our self-image, but also our political, judicial and moral order. You cannot held criminals accountable for their actions anymore if you conclude that free-will is an illusion. In such a world only consequential arguments can be used to justify their incarnation. Evolutionary biology makes it harder to find personal motivations of your behavior. This crisis is even aggravated by neuroscience. According to neurologists our consciousness plays a minor role. They explain most of our actions by pointing to deeper processes in our brains of whom we are not conscious.

Empathy

Some people feel upset that there is no higher meaning of life, of our behavior or of the history in general. Everything seems to be accidental. The same reason we are here is also valid for the existence of bacteria on this planet. This is contra commonsense morality. Is there something that makes us special? We are special from animals in the sense that we can communicate about things that are not present at the moment. Humans are special in the animal kingdom in the sense that they communicate about topics that transcend their environment. Moreover, humans can acknowledge others in having emotions, desires, intention and knowledge. Animals and young children cannot do this, and part of growing up is developing these skills. The other plays a crucial role in our lives, they are somebody who also determine who we are when we see ourselves though the eyes of the other. Apart from self-reflection, humans have the capacity for empathy. To image the feelings and intentions of the other is the basis of empathy.

Being free

Evolutionary theory seems to fall shot in the realm of law, politics and morality. War criminals who faced trail during the Nuremberg trials could not get a get out of jail free card by arguing that it were their genes who caused these crimes. We are free because we can take responsibility. We are free to the extend that certain factors determine ourselves. The problem of science here seems to be that it continually redefines actions on the free-will / determinist scale towards more determined actions. That being said, we might be determined in some ways, this does not mean we should not resist to being determined. Jealousy has evolutionary roots in the way that it plays a role to keep relationships together. This does not mean we should live our lives being jealous. Rather, we can reflect on our behavior and adjust it if necessary. It is not that bad living in a world with free will. We live to live a morally good life, behave decently on the streets and take responsibility for our failures. The battle between free-will and determinism is not yet over. 

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