What is the evolutionary reason for humans having a conscience?

Question

and why do humans have sympathy? if i'm walking down the st. in manhattan and i see a homeless man, i feel bad and give him a dollar. why did evolution make me have those feelings? isn't evolution supposed to make a stronger, better species? so, isn't a conscience and sympathy bad things for a species to have? by giving that man a dollar, i just slightly hurt myself financially when in the animal world it would be survival of the fittest. if a lion sees a starving lion in africa, he doesn't allow that lion to come back to his cave and eat the animal he just killed, even if he has plenty of food to go around. yet humans do it. and yes, i know humans are social animals, but to me a conscience goes against evolution. some humans are morally against war, abortion, and the death penalty, while others aren't. this clearly causes conflict and hurts the group. why would evolution make humans with different morals, since that can cause conflict and hurt human progress?

and could i have some good answers without someone just insulting me and calling me a "bible thumper" or "fundamentalist". i would like to have a real debate on the issue and get some good explanations, rather than insults.

maya, there are some morals that every society holds valid, such as torture, murder, rape, etc. sure, these things happen everywhere but are always seen as terrible things. morality outside of the US isn't that different from what it is here.

and maya, you are correct about humans being the only animals capable of self-destruction. but you kind of made my point. why in the world would evolution give humans that type of mindset, where they could actually end their existance? there is no way that having that type of morality or immorality could be helpful and beneficial to humans.

Answer 1

Conscience is developed by whatever society determines is right/wrong.

In a society where marriage doesn't exist (or one where polygamy is allowed, in the Bible!) having multiple partners is fine, but in today's society some people may feel "guilty" because of it.

Answer 2

What is the evolutionary reason for humans having a conscience?
There are social consequences to not having a conscience. Humans are social creatures. If you act in an antisocial way, society will punish you. Ergo, humans have a conscience. The conscience you have will be learned from the society you live in. The same is true of sympathy. If you have no sympathy for others, others will show no sympathy to you, and your life will be more difficult. This you will also learn from your society. Both of these, sympathy and conscience are learned behavior- the evolutionary part of it is the big brain which makes it possible.
Surely even as a christian, which I assume you are, it must be evident to you that babies do not show either sympathy or a conscience. They learn both. That's why some societies are notably less sympathetic than others, particularly when sympathy may be harmful to the group. If, as you seem to argue, these things were innate, all humans would display conscience and sympathy to the same degree- they don't.
You seem to think "better, stronger species"= everyone acting like Alpha male types. That kind of behavior can actually be more damaging to a species, e.g., consider that the males of many species of cats will destroy the young of other males in order to make the females productive. Thus, these males exhibit behavior which may actually hurt the species in the long run. As far as the lion not sharing his food- same thing as what I said before. Neither can that lion expect any other lion to share his food with him if he needs it- but he's not smart enough to think that. Cooperation has survival value for the species. That's one of the reasons humans managed to survive when surrounded by species with more muscles and bigger teeth.
I would think that the more resources a particular group has at hand, the more conscience, sympathy, etc., will grow. Compare the U.S. to places where there is little to go around.
As far as disagreements about things like abortion, etc. Whether disagreements of that sort will hurt the survival of humans as a group long term is something that will be determined by the long term, and anyway, these things you are talking about are learned things, not things we inherit. It's the big brain that's on trial in evolutionary terms, ultimately.
As to the comment about evolution making people with different morals, again, evolution made the physical animal. The morals are learned/taught through living. This should be evident to anyone by looking at the differences in people in the world.
In short, most of the things you are talking about are not things that are inherited, they're things that are learned, so they can't really be chalked up to evolution other than that, as I said, it's our brain that makes them possible. How different people use the brain will of course differ. Thus conscience, sympathy, disagreement, etc., etc., and the differences among those things between people.
This wanders all over the place, but throwing this together in a few minutes, it turns out that way.

Answer 3

Try doing a search for "evolution altruism". There are some very good theories for why altruism can be advantageous to a species. Survival of the fittest is perhaps an unfortunate expression, it doesn't really capture the essence of evolutionary adaptation.

But note that biological evolution is no longer the primary force to explain the evolution of human behavior. As mammalian brains became more and more complex, it became possible for information to be passed from one generation to the next without it being encoded in genes. With humans and the evolution of language, and especially written language, we passed the point where more information is passed from generation to generation outside of the gene pool than from within it. So, our consciences may be strongly influenced by biological necessity, but there is a very good chance that conscience is more nurture than nature.

By the way, you ask "why would evolution make humans with different morals?" This question shows that you have a mistaken perception of what Evolution claims. Evolution is actually best thought of as an explanation for the immense diversity of life, with many forms that are specialized to be well adapted to their niches. Evolution does not claim that all life will evolve towards one ideal. So, it is not at all surprising that in the natural environment there are different groups that have different variations of moral understanding. This is even more true when you consider information passed on via language and learning as opposed to evolution of the genome.

Answer 4

The evolutionary reason for having a conscience is that sympathy promotes the survival of a species. Human evolution is largely the evolution of a cooperative species that tended to survive better in groups. Imagine how long a group of people would stay together if no one in it had a conscience or any sympathy for their fellows. It's unlikely the group would even form.
These feelings of conscience and sympathy probably applied to small groups at first (one's family, clan etc). But as people associated in bigger groups, so too these feelings began to apply to bigger groups.
And for the second part of your question, why some people have more or stronger moral feelings than others, that could also have an answer in evolution. All desirable traits that evolved in humans are uneavenly shared. Some people are smarter, faster, stronger and better-looking than their fellows and this can also create conflict. Perhaps moral feelings work the same way.

edit: That is not to say that people can't also strive to be more moral, just as they can strive to be (to a certain extent) stronger, faster, smarter and better-looking.

Answer 5

It's a question of survival . As society has evolved from small family groups seeking a bare subsistence life to a complex community with defined boundaries for behavior , the fact that some people are less successful than others can be a destabilising factor in that community if the differences become too extreme.
Therefore it is in the interest of the wealthy to ensure that the less fortunate are not made too desperate.
Lions in Africa do not have this complex society and a male lion will kill any cubs that are not his, so that is a poor comparison.

Answer 6

Why are you trying to use a biological model (natural selection) to explain a sociological concept?

There's no evoluntionary reason why I like the colour blue, why I prefer the guitar to the piano, or why I find Mel Brooks hilarious while I think Woody Allen is just tedious.

Besides, NOT giving the homeless guy a dollar wouldn't increase your chance of survival. And giving him a dollar certainly didn't decreased your chance of survial--it's not like you gave him everything you have and risked anything yourself.

We are compassionate because a compassionate society is one in which we ALL stand a better chance of survival. But it's neither an evolutionary function, nor a part of natural selection.

Answer 7

I don't know whether a conscience and sympathy are evolutionary traits or not.

I know why they help us prosper as a society, though. You give when you have, so that, hopefully, someone will give to you (or your loved ones) when they are in need. It's a social contract that works and that, because we are thinking, planning beings, many of us enter into.

Answer 8

We are a social animal. As a species, we evolved certain traits that have allowed us to cope with the world.It may come as a surprise to some of you folks, but,strictly speaking, we ain't got the tools to make it against most of the top predators in the world. However, as a group, there hasn't been much we couldn't handle.Group behavior allows us to spread responsibilities around,compensating for individual strengths and weaknesses ,and better allowing us to raise our young. So, any traits of compassion towards others of our tribe would be beneficial to us as a whole. This also explains our problems of getting along with Other tribes. They would be competing directly with us for food,shelter, etc, and largely explains why we still have aggression towards other groups( people not of our tribe). Humans are special in the degree they can think about the world,and we filter what we see through both our genetic instincts/responses and our cognitive perceptions of our world.

Answer 9

A conscience is not something that is exclusivly human. How do you know that animals don't have a conscience. When my dog pee's on the carpet, you can tell he feels guilt. When I shout at him, you can tell he feels fear. When I get home from work in the afternoon, and his little tails is wagging, you can tell he feels love.

All animals feel emotions, and have a conscience, animals love, animals hate. Some animals kill their own, whilst others don't.

Evolution hasn't given us a conscience, it has just made us more self-aware.

Answer 10

The fact that you actually care about another person and have a conscience is the ultimate sign evolution exist. Survival of the fittest does not mean we try to kill or destroy the weak in our species. It means trying to keep your own species from extinction. This is why we keep old people alive, strive to achieve advancement in medicine, and care about the less fortunate. We are more evolved than the lion. There are scientific studies that show elephants, dolphins, and other advanced mammals who show grief.

Answer 11

Actually, we have a conscience because Adam and Eve ate from the tree of good and evil. God doesn't want us to have a conscience.