Evolution and Moral Nativism

Evolutionary theory consists of two main thesis: common descent and natural selection. Evolutionary theory and especially natural selection have been used by some scholars of different scientific and philosophical disciplines to explain human morality. The main division between these theories is between those which consider morality as adaptation and those which consider morality as byproduct. Some of these theories contain an element of innateness of morality. Two such theories by two psychologists Haidt and Bloom are examined. Haidt explains six kinds of moral virtues by six moral modules that are adaptations. Bloom argues for five areas of evolutionary moral innateness in children. The main objection I raise is that natural selection and its effects are nonmoral and they can be used for acquiring both moral virtues and vices. Some other evolutionarily innate psychological properties that are not moral in these theories also can be used to develop moral virtues or vices. In this sense evolutionary moral nativism is false.