Ewolucja i etyka, czyli kilka słów o altruizmie

Zdzisława Piątek

Published: 2018-10-291

No. 5 (1999)

Evolution and Ethics, a Few Remarks on Altruism

Zdzisława Piątek

Abstract

The paper constitutes an attempt to analyse ethics and morality from the ecological point of view, including argumentation of the following issues:

- Ethics, seen as theory of morality, has to complete what in the case of man has been over in the biological sphere of ecology.

- Morality, being a certain kind of instincts substitute is rooted in kin altruism, and its basis adaptability value depends on the ability to limit egoistic tendencies of an individual in such a way that it does not hinder the occurrence of a well being of a group.

- Contrary to what philosophers may think, altruistic patterns of behaviour are not exclusive of humans, but are widely distributed among other animal species since they serve as the factor increasing the chances of spreading one’s genes within the genetic pool of a given species. In fact animals tend to behave as if they knew about the existence of genetic community.

- Egoism is the other side of altruism and it cannot be treated as the opposite to it because each altruist is interested in maintaining altruistic behaviour.

The considerations, summarised above are based on the views presented by the contemporary biologists; Ernst Mayr, Tadeusz Bielicki, as well as sociobiologists.

Keywords:

Ethics, morality, reciprocal altruism, kin altruism, moral standards, fitness, natural selection, instinct, egoism, social biology

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Piątek, Z. (2018). Evolution and Ethics, a Few Remarks on Altruism. Humanities and Natural Sciences, (5), 253–268. Retrieved from https://czasopisma.uwm.edu.pl/index.php/hip/article/view/1941

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