Evolutionary foundations of morality and altruism — recent advances

Ingela Alger

“Survival of the fittest” is often taken to imply that human life must be the Hobbesian “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” However, recent theoretical analyses of the evolution of preferences guiding behaviors of individuals show, on the contrary, that natural selection promotes a particular form of preferences, which may be interpreted as implying both a Kantian moral concern and an other-regarding concern. The talk will provide an account of the ultimate forces behind this result, and discuss implications of the said preferences.