How did people develop a conscience in the evolutionary process?

Question

Okay, so I'm taking Biology this year, and one of the students asked the teacher how we developed a conscience. My teacher said something like our brains evolved over time or something, and then she changed the subject. It didn't sound very convincing.

I honestly don't understand how people could have developed good and bad all by themselves. Like killing a man is wrong type of thing. Like how did humans develop justice? How do we know what is right and what is wrong? And why do some people have different rights that are wrong to others? And how do we know Hitler wasn't right and we're wrong? Since we're ever changing animals wouldn't we have just maintained what the other animals considered good or bad? Could you please explain how it happened?

I simply ask because I want to be able to defend what I believe.
Thanks much.

Answer 1

WE DEVELOPED A CONSCIENCE WHEN WE REALIZED THAT THE EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS WAS NOT THE TRUTH. CREATIONISM IS THE REAL TRUTH. EVOLUTION GIVES THOSE STUPID PEOPLE WHO DON'T BELIEVE IN GOD SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN.

Answer 2

Big brains...more reasoning for the good and bad part of it...as for Justice, it is just a prettier word for revenge, a very basic 'emotion' that any animal may feel. As for why killing another human being feels and is wrong, survival of the species instinct. The differentiation of morals is based off of whatever the culture is, like the Anglo-Saxons valued bravery, courage, and honor, while the Greeks valued the same thing but also intelligence and wit, and what not...Just like how different animals of a species might have differing group relationships (like how chimps of two different 'packs' may act differently) It depends on how you take good and bad for Hitler and all that stuff. I hope I explained to your satisfactory...

Answer 3

I'm not going to try to answer all your questions. In a nutshell, humans are social animals. Things that bind humans into communities aid survival. The complex cerebral cortex is cross-wired to the primitive pleasure / pain centers by neurons and hormones. As a result, "good" deeds are pleasurable, and "bad" deeds result in pain (guilt). Justice is a social ideal. Ideas are not biological evolution, but part of cultural evolution. Cultures evolved differently. You could take a college course on these questions and only scratch the surface. I hope I can give you some ideas on how to start attacking the question.

Answer 4

Bear in mind that humans evolved from a social species. In such a species, the individuals must behave in a way that does not threaten the good of the group. This is instinctive. We are born with a predisposition to social behavior, and with the evolution of the capacity to think, remember, and speak, those instinctive predispositions become more complex as the society in which the individual lives becomes more complex.

Answer 5

That would be hard to explain. If the brain evolved over time, then that means you were a dumb-***. You don't know the difference of mercy or violence. You don't know anger or sadness. And you couldn't make a decision on anything. If the conscience mind has to "develop through evolutionary process," what happens to the rest of the body? Now common sense tells us that without the brain you can't see, nor speak, nor experience pain for that matter. How would you move? And how the hell do you survive?

Answer 6

What makes you think there are answers. And if there are, what makes you think any of us will know them. With that said...

One theory on right and wrong is that tribal life meant people were around each other all the time. If you were mean to or hurt someone, you still had to live with them. This could have been very uncomfortable. It was simply easier to treat others as you wished to be treated.

Answer 7

As social animals, we need each other to survive. Treating other people well thus becomes a survival skill - if you don't, others won't help you, and you may even be killed or expelled from the group. This naturally leads to some version of the Golden Rule.

Answer 8

Bigger brain= bigger reasoning skills and intelligence. Humans are pack animals. We've always lived in groups and socierties even before our ancestors were human. With a bigger brain, we learned how to perfect the idea of laws and morality. We survived better when we eliminated chaos and anarchy. And as our society changed, so has our legal needs. We have an advanced limbic system, therefore we can experience empathy and emotions. Unlike our ancestors and other animals, we cannot reproduce as often. Therefore we needed to evolve to "be good" to ensure our survival because our populations could not be as quickly replenished as others.

Answer 9

It's basic reasoning and common sense, which did evolve in our larger brains from neanderthals and "homo erectus". We wouldn't kill one of our siblings or pack members, just like any other animal can make that kind of reasoning. Part of being smarter is knowing the difference between right and wrong, which is not always so obvious.

Answer 10

Little thing called mirror neurons kid. Relatively new discovery, it proves the neurological basis for conscience and empathy. Whenever we see the face of someone of our own species, these neurons react according to the expression we perceive, and often results in the duplication of that expression. When we see or hear another person in pain, these react and actually serve to mimic that same pain in us. We are social animals, and have developed methods of treating one another based upon a natural understanding of one another's emotions, and what causes others pain (and thus affects us in a similar, albeit lesser, manner)

Answer 11

The ability to get along with our fellow mammals is a survival skill and is innate in all mammals. What you're proposing is a lot more irrational and complicated.