I agree that evolution would encourage us to sacrifice our best interest for some others in our society. Empathy and sympathy are thought patterns set up by evolution through the “little shot of feel-good drugs” mechanism.

Making small sacrifices may indeed be beneficial to society and to the individual in the long run, but what if that sacrifice is ones life, for example? How can that be counted as leading “to the success of the individual”? And what about compassion, justice and mercy for those who don’t engender much empathy and sympathy?

AgnosticAtheist said, ” I believe that the evolutionary mechanism that gives us the “little shot of feel-good drugs” primarily occurs when we do good.” Primarily but not always?

Amandalaine brought up an important point, “What do you think it means when someone receives a “little shot of feel-good drugs” when they do something evil?” And indeed that frequently occurs.

If we depend upon evolution, it will almost certainly lead us to extinction as it has with almost every other species. If we have the power to reason, why depend upon such an unreliable and unthinking mechanism?

What do you think it means when someone receives a “little shot of feel-good drugs” when they do something evil? That occurs. I’ve taken great pleasure at getting back at some people. Crazy, disturbed people can take joy from murder – it is their high. It seems to me our concept of good/evil can not be tied to a physical impulse. This is extremely dangerous. It seems that really we have no grounds for determining what good and evil is then. But, it also seems from our discussion, that we’ve already assumed good or evil can not be tied to some physical impulses because I’m sure you agree with me that murder is not acceptable.

Just a thought!

I appreciate your response. It’s hard to talk about groups when there’s so many different types within the group. So, thanks.

There are so many brands of Christianity that most statements made about “Christians” can be incorrect depending on what flavor you are. For the purpose of this blog I tend to focus on the extreme fundamentalist view. I do know that’s not quite fair to moderate Christians.

aA

That may have made it muddier… Anyway, I agree with the idea that it is untrue that man in inherently (and wholly) evil.

Nietzsche would classify that shot of good feeling as the ‘will to power’ playing itself out, helping people makes you feel good because it places you firmly ‘above’ them. (Genealogy of Morals, III, I can find the exact quotations if anyone wants it). While I do not fully accept Nietzsche explanation, I use it here simply to point out that there are many consistent non-theological explanation of the origin of good will. I do believe that as animals, it is an evolutionarily successful trait to care for the rest of the tribe. The success of the group leads to the success of the individual. Edward O. Wilson has a chapter on Altruism in his book ‘On Human Nature’.

That said, the results of this study could just as well point towards a ‘leveling’ instinct. A desire to have no one too high or too low, a desire to fill in the valley and break down the peaks. I’m not certain what sort of study could separate a ‘Robin Hood’ from a leveler. It may be worthwhile to consider that Robin Hood is essentially a character filled with risk, his entire life is built around an altruistic mission – he lives a forest for example. No test could adequately measure how likely people are to actually sacrifice for others.

I think the Milgram experiments and the Stanford prison experiments lead to very different conclusions about the human race. Wikipedia has reasonably good entries on both. I think they suggest a human nature that is oriented more towards obedience than it is towards good or evil. But after all, who’s to say.

All discussions like this should be viewed in light of the Holocaust, (that may seem a tangential comment but bear with me). The Holocaust illustrates just how willingly people contribute to and ignore evil if authority asks them to do it. Even people who grew up prior to the Nazi era easily participated in or ignored the genocide. Any sort of internal moral compass that most people possess seems to be quite easily reoriented or subverted to allow evil. This is true to such an extent that to speak of any inherent moral inclination, or even morality as a whole, is a bit… misleading. It would be nice if we were all good deep down, but the evidence seems to suggest that at the very core humans are inclined to believe, and do whatever that belief demands of them.