Taking Darwin Seriously: A Naturalistic Approach to Philosophy

323 Pages·19.027 MB·English

by  Michael Ruse

Taking Darwin Seriously
A Naturalistic Approach to Philosophy'
Michael Ruse
Charles Darwin’s great work, On the Origin
oj Species, published in 1859, had profound
implications for all aspects of human thought.
Instead of the miraculous creation of an all-
powerful God, man became one of the many
products of a natural, non-directed process of
growth and development. Not children of
Adam - but modified monkeys.
Faking Darwin Seriously explores in full the
ways in which biological theory can most
fruitfully inform philosophical understanding,
accepting that our animal nature must affect
and influence our perception of the external
world and our relations with our fellow
human beings, most particularly our moral
dealings with other people.
Writing in a style which neither trivializes
nor assumes a specialist knowledge, Michael
Ruse pays careful attention to the most recent
work of Darwinian evolutionists, particularly
to the ‘sociobiologists’, while relating the
discussion to the overall philosophical
tradition and the contemporary debate about
‘realism’ and the objectivity of ethics and
morality.
This controversial and stimulating book,
continuing the debate on evolution in general
and Darwinism in particular, will be of
interest to philosopher and scientist alike.
Ruse’s demonstration of the ways in which
biological theory can provide a firm basis for
philosophical understanding about ourselves
and about the external world is a major and
impressive undertaking.
$24.95
Taking Darwin Seriously
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Michael Ruse
Taking Darwin Seriously
A Naturalistic Approach
to Philosophy
Basil Blackwell
IP ? mn
© Michael Ruse 1986
First published 1986
Reprinted 1986
Basil Blackwell Ltd
108 Cowley Road, Oxford 0X4 1JF, UK
Basil Blackwell Inc.
432 Park Avenue South, Suite 1503
New York, NY 10016, USA
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages
for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Ruse, Michael
Taking Darwin seriously: a naturalistic
approach to philosophy.
1. Philosophical anthropology
I. Title
128 BD450
ISBN 0-631-13542-1
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Ruse, Michael.
Taking Darwin seriously.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Evolution-Philosophy. I. Title.
QH371.R77 1986 575.01'62 85-15094
ISBN 0-631-13542-1
Typeset by Oxford Publishing Services, Oxford
Printed in Great Britain by TJ Press Ltd, Padstow
For Lizzie, with love

Contents
Preface xi
1 The Biological Background 1
The fact of evolution 1
The path of evolution 4
The theory of evolution: natural selection 16
The theory of evolution: modern genetics 18
Good science? 20
Conclusion 27
2 Evolutionary Epistemology 29
Evolution as analogy 31
Herbert Spencer and the law of progress 37
Stephen Toulmin's Darwinian model 45
The analogy considered: the fact of evolution 46
The analogy considered: the path of evolution 49
The analogy considered: the cause of evolution 53
Donald Campbell's Darwinian variations 58
Karl Popper and the revision of Darwinism 61
Conclusion 65
3 Evolutionary Ethics 67
Moral issues 68
Evolution and ethics 71
Herbert Spencer and the moral value of progress 73
Spencerian problems 75
William Graham Sumner and Social Darwinism 78
Thomas Henry Huxley and his stand against nature 82
Hume's law and the naturalistic fallacy 86
Contents
Vlll
Is the natural innately good? 90
Edward O. Wilson and the foundations of morality 93
The evolution of the moral sense 99
Conclusion 101
4 Human Evolution 103
The fact of human evolution 104
The path of human evolution 109
The cause of human evolution 115
The problem of culture 123
The biology of language 126
Ape language 134
Is culture independent of biology? 140
Epigenetic rules 143
Conclusion 147
5 Darwinian Epistemology 148
The nature of science 149
Scientific reasoning 155
The case for a biological backing 160
The case for (continued) 164
The case against 168
The rivals to science 174
Philosophical precursor: Kant? 178
Philosophical precursor: Hume? 182
Common-sense realism 184
Metaphysical scepticism 192
Konrad Lorenz and the biological a priori 196
The ultimate foundations 199
Conclusion 206
6 Darwinian Ethics 207
Substantive ethics 208
Meta-ethics 213
The evolution of morality 217
The empirical evidence: social animals 223
The empirical evidence: chimpanzees 227
The empirical evidence: humans 230
Substantive ethics reconsidered: utilitarianism 235
My family and other animals 238
To give and not to count the cost 242
Substantive ethics reconsidered: Kantianism 244
Moral disagreements * 247
Darwinian meta-ethics 250
Objectifying morality 252
Stepping around Hume's law 256
Freedom of choice 258
Possible precursor: Kant? 262