How did man evolve to the point of having a conscience?
Wouldn't a conscience be counter productive to the ideals behind the process of natural selection?
2007-06-01 11:14:34 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Not to a social animal. Social animals not only depend on themselves for survival, but the whole group. Small fish are extreme examples of this. They swim in schools to avoid being eaten. If one fish was to kill all the rest in the school, it would be eaten by a predator. So animals became social which kept them wanting to be part of a group and part of a "community".
Humans are no exception. Humans value their family, friends, peers, community, country, and world, mostly in that order. They protect their family and friends first because that is 1. the most important to their own survival, and 2. their genes are closest to that individual.
2007-06-01 12:05:39 · answer #1 · answered by Take it from Toby 7 · 4⤊ 1⤋
I appreciate your main idea, but AHHH! Natural selection & Evolution are NOT the same thing! Please don't use them interchangably. Evolutionists would have you believe that natural selection (something that is indeed science because it has been repeatedly observed) is a mechanism for Evolution (something that has never been observed, so is not science). It's not. Natural selection utilizes a net LOSS of information, but Evolution would need a net GAIN of information. Go to www.answersingenesis.org >Get Answers >Speciation or Information Theory or Genetics to learn more.
To answer your larger question, there would be a limit, but I think it would have been possible for a person to reason that certain actions (hurting other people) wouldn't be self-preserving. (Although some people can't think past their noses when it comes to the question of how homosexual behavior hurts people--so that doesn't give a person much hope that Neandertals would've figured things out.) But 'conscience' per se, not so much--so in this I think you are right. Hard to say as God wrote His Law on everyone's heart & so we all do have consciences. It's just that we've so intelligently [insert sarcasm] learned how to ignore those consciences & harden our hearts.
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Wake up! zzz. Conscience, not conscious.
2007-06-01 12:46:28 · answer #2 · answered by Sakurachan 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
actually, biologist believe that our consciences evolved because we are a social animal, and have a conscience is beneficial to the group (society) as a whole. There are a lot of other animals who do things for the good of the group too.
2007-06-01 11:21:10 · answer #3 · answered by funaholic 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
No, a conscience is not counter productive to human evolution. It serves US well today, because it served our distant ANCESTORS well. You should not imagine that evolution can be explained with that dreadful term `survival of the fittest`.That description is used only by Evangelicals, Creationists, and others of poor scientific awareness.
2007-06-01 11:18:59 · answer #4 · answered by ED SNOW 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Why would it be? Are you saying mankind would have benefited from being completely cynical? Then how would we be able to create alliances with each other? These alliances (family, society, hunting packs etc) allow us to take on more difficult prey, defend ourselves more efficiently, protect our offspring etc. Altruism turns out to be one of our greatest qualities, evolutionary speaking.
You say 'ideals behind the process of natural selection', which is quite revealing. There are no ideals behind evolution, just like there are no ideals behind gravity. They're just mechanisms.
2007-06-01 11:22:31 · answer #5 · answered by ThePeter 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Even a worm holds some degree of awareness or consciousness. It evolves just like all other biological functions. How you've deduced that consciousness somehow counters natural selection is beyond me. Sounds like wishful thinking on your part.
2007-06-01 11:27:44 · answer #6 · answered by Dog 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Methinks God or the forces of nature--take your pick--are still working on that little project; most people I've seen don't seem to HAVE a conscience (either for themselves, or for others).
2007-06-01 11:19:07 · answer #7 · answered by ಠ__ಠ 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
No. In fact, it's the opposite. Many animals display the act of a conscience, all of it learned.
Have you seen a Feral Child? [A child not raised by humans, or fully neglected by them] They don't care what they do.
Social animals would learn it, because it increases ones survival odds to not kill/anger those around you.
2007-06-01 11:22:12 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
It would. Interesting?
It might slow tremendously. Shows you nature can't think. Research into it. Maybe you can find some of your own versions of answers. :)
2007-06-01 11:20:13 · answer #9 · answered by Silmiss 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
when did the concept of natural selection have ideals?
2007-06-01 11:18:56 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋