Are we losing it? Darwin’s moral sense and the importance of early experience

Abstract

Charles Darwin was concerned to counter the now-pervasive views initially promulgated by Herbert Spencer, that self-interest was primary and morality did not emerge from the tree of life. According to Darwin, humanity&s;s moral sense arose from the sexual, parental, and social instincts that evolved in mammals generally, but especially in humans, giving rise to the golden rule. Components of the moral sense, such as, social pleasure, empathy, social concern, and habit control, are reportedly apparent all over the world among (male and female) small-band hunter-gatherer communities (immediate-return societies; hereafter called &s;SBHG&s;), the type of society in which 99 percent of human genus history is presumed to have been spent. There are several common reactions when one points out species-atypical parenting in societies like the USA. There are several potential implications of the epigenetic nature of moral development. Early toxic stress undermines optimal development and there is no evidence that optimality can be recovered.