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Article: Darwin and the descent of morality. (Opinion)(Cover Story).
- Article from:
- First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life
- Article date:
- November 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Institute on Religion and Public Life. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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An important part of the current controversy over the theoretical status of evolutionary theory concerns its moral implications. Does evolutionary theory undermine traditional morality, or does it support it? Does it suggest that infanticide is natural (as Steven Pinker asserts) or is it a bulwark against liberal relativism (as Francis Fukuyama argues)? Does it rest on a universe devoid of good and evil (as Richard Dawkins has bluntly stated) or can it be used to provide a new foundation for natural law reasoning (as Larry Arnhart contends)?
The obvious place to go in the debate is to the source. Darwin himself considered morality of whatever stripe to be a ...