Highlights from this issue
What is morality and why does it exist? Historically, morality has been a set of norms that regulated human behavior and promoted survival of groups of human beings.Today, human beings have very sophisticated, large scale societies and advanced technologies. The world which they have carved for them...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
BMJ Publ.
2011
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| In: |
Journal of medical ethics
Year: 2011, Volume: 37, Issue: 10, Pages: 581 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | What is morality and why does it exist? Historically, morality has been a set of norms that regulated human behavior and promoted survival of groups of human beings.Today, human beings have very sophisticated, large scale societies and advanced technologies. The world which they have carved for themselves is utterly different the world even 100 years ago. Human social and technological progress has been exponential over 10 000 years. Yet our biology and psychology has remained essentially unchanged over human history. We retain the biology and psychology of homo sapiens and our hunter gather ancestors living in the African savannah.This is important for understanding morality. Through nearly all of human history—the times when our moral dispositions were shaped to promote survival—humans lived in small groups. They co-operated with members of their own group, but at least some tended to free ride when not observed. They were disposed to care most about family and close friends. They were xenophobic and distrusted strangers from other groups because those strangers were in competition for resources and could … |
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| ISSN: | 1473-4257 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of medical ethics
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1136/medethics-2011-100218 |