Do Moral Acts Fossilize? A Contribution to Darwin’s Hypothesis on the Origin of Moral Conscience

Authors

  • Javier Romero Muñoz Universidad de Salamanca
  • José María Bermúdez de Castro Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH); Anthropology Department, University College London
  • Eudald Carbonell Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES); Universitat Rovira i Virgili
  • Carmen Velayos Castelo Departamento de Historia del Derecho y Filosofía Jurídica, Moral y Política, Universidad de Salamanca

Keywords:

Ethics, moral conscience, Darwin, paleoanthropology, normativity

Abstract

From a naturalistic approach, this article shows the importance of palaeoanthropological evidence in the study of the formation of moral conscience. From the analysis of Pleistocene fossil remains, we seek to deepen Darwin's hypothesis on the origin of moral conscience following his work The Origin of Man (1871). From this point of view, moral conscience develops gradually and continuously during human evolution by means of genetic and cultural mechanisms. In a way, morality is part of our anthropological structure and the possibility of freely giving content to this morality also responds to an evolutionary process.

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Published

2022-09-30

How to Cite

Romero Muñoz, J., Bermúdez de Castro, J. M., Carbonell, E., & Velayos Castelo, C. (2022). Do Moral Acts Fossilize? A Contribution to Darwin’s Hypothesis on the Origin of Moral Conscience. Dilemata, (39), 15–32. Retrieved from https://dilemata.net/revista/index.php/dilemata/article/view/412000473

Issue

No. 39 (2022): Núm. 39 (2022)

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2022 Dilemata

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