Micah, Shermer begins by correlating brain size to social group size in primates and showing the relative amounts of within and between group aggressions among different primate species. He also points to primate studies that are similar to Prisoner's dilemma studies in human. These suggest that even capuchin monkeys have some sense of the golden rule. I personally consider golden rule in itself as evidence for some kind of genetic basis for morality.
Beyond this Shermer points out that for about 1,000,000 humans on this planet have lived in groups of about 150. This is still the number of friends and family that people can effectively relate to; the military and businesses organize themselves in keeping with this principle. In groups of this size a formal code of morality is not needed. People in these setting know their neighbors; who is naughty and who is nice. Formal codes of morality and law do no appear until population sizes increase to the point that anonymity is possible. It is easier to steal from people who don't know who you are. That's the short version. Krimel ---------------------------------------- Krimel, Please explain a little more. Micah ------------------------------------- Micah, But the range of choices available to you are limited by lots of things including genetics. Krimel ------------------------- Krimel, I could steal, but I don't. That's my choice. Micah moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
