The Evolution of Moral Judgment. A Plural, Functional Explanation

Abstract

Evolutionary functional theories about morality assume that morality has been evolutionarily selected because it produces a cooperative and pro-social effect (selected effect functional theory, SE). This assumption wrongly implies that the trait which produces the selected effect is fully known. Furthermore, a SE theory does not seem to explain the peculiarities of moral thought, which are mostly synthesized in the features of moral judgment: Its authoritative and inescapable character (practical clout). This paper provides an alternative SE explanation and argues that a causal role functional explanation (CR) is also necessary because this kind of explanation establishes the way the selected effect interacts with basic human evaluative propensities, which not only makes it possible to give an account of the practical clout of moral judgment, but of the phenomenon of moral ambivalence as well. However, the connection between reason and emotion and their influence on morality remains unexplained.