Primate studies have clearly shown that our cousins exhibit many of the same "moral" behaviors that we value.
In chimpanzee society (and remember, whether you believe in evolution or not, it's a curious scientific fact that they share 98.5% of our DNA), we see enforced norms against such behavior as stealing, murder and adultery. Do those three things happen occasionally in chimp society? Would you say chimps have religion? Then where do they get this innate morality?
Could it be that a genetic predisposition to "play by the rules" in the pursuit of individual and group harmony is what we have come to think of as morals?
2007-03-02
19:38:53
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7 answers
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asked by
Brendan G
4
in
Religion & Spirituality