What is the evolutionary reason for the human conscience?

Question

If animals have a conscience, it certainly isn't the same as humans. A grizzly bear or lion can attack another animal and eat it. It doesn't debate this issue morally first. It doesn't do it out of rage and they don't feel bad and commit suicide afterwards. They are simply animals being animals. So why did humans evolve this heavy burden of a conscience, compassion, and another mixes of emotions? If we are truly animals and our only point in life is to be born, eat, procreate to keep the species going, then die and become worm food....what benefit would having these emotions serve us? In fact, wouldn't they be detrimental to the expansion of our species? Darwin was correct about survival of the fittest with animals. Mothers will often abandon their weak children to better feed the strong and it is not upsetting to them, but humans dont do this. When a mother murders or abandons their child it isnt seen as sick because society says so, something emotional deep and emotional gets us

Answer 1

until about a century ago, there were in fact many Asian and Pacific cultures where cannibalism was practiced without "conscience." It was an accepted and encouraged part of the culture.

what do you make of that?

Answer 2

You said
"If animals have a conscience, it certainly isn't the same as humans. A grizzly bear or lion can attack another animal and eat it. It doesn't debate this issue morally first. It doesn't do it out of rage and they don't feel bad and commit suicide afterwards. They are simply animals being animals."
Have you had any beef, chicken, or pork lately??

The mix of conscience, compassion, and another mixes of emotions that you talk about is what makes us human. While we are all mammals, we are not animals. The conscience, compassion, and other emotions is what give us the ability to be a civilized people.

Answer 3

Humans are not the only animals with a conscience.

The conscience and compassion help us band together.

Treatment of those within the pack and outsiders varies differently. Lions response to killing within the pride, lions from other prides, and prey are completely different.

Answer 4

well, some humans dont have a conscience, they have traced this back to some genetic defect or trait that has been bred out of most humans. we have evolved this way cause society really wouldnt work if we didnt. we are also smart enough to learn to at least pretend to have a conscience that fits in with the norm.

Answer 5

experience of right and incorrect is inextricably related to team survival recommendations. in case you think approximately how we used to stay in prolonged clans the place there replaced right into a extensive volume of inbreeding and vicious annoying circumstances for the team to stand you will discover how individualism wasn't a large function of our evolutionary previous. What i'm asserting is that for the duration of an inbred community human beings are interested in guard the team above themselves considering it fairly is the final approach for the survival of the team genes which interior the case of inbred human beings occurs to be one's own genes too. So putting others desires till now one's own with the aid of a feeling of right and incorrect replaced into substantial a protracted time in the past. in certainty even though it replaced into nevertheless survival of one's own genes as i've got defined so that's consistent with Darwinian survival. those days experience of right and incorrect is a few thing which holds human beings back from achieving fulfillment in an individualist subculture. we ought to work out experience of right and incorrect being chosen out as a feeble trait. as quickly as we can clone ourselves freely and triumph over all illnesses we would possibly not prefer different human beings in any respect and that would be the tip of the prefer for experience of right and incorrect. i don't think of which will ever take place because of the fact all of us might desire to proportion a finite volume of materials. Compromise will continuously be mandatory.

Answer 6

We are evolutionarily designed to live in groups...Not to hunt, but because we were hunted...If we were to survive we needed to develop strong guidelines to live by...We couldn't be entirely selfish, we had to behave by the "best for the group" notion...This was survival of the fittest.