Do unto others

Today in class we discussed the Dallas Morning News article by Nicholas Wade, "The Evolution of Morality." I found the article brought up a few very interesting points. Is the concept of "do unto others" written into our genes. It goes back to the basic belief behind cosmopolitanism. Though everyone may not have the same background, culture, and religious beliefs, there are basic moral principles that are true across national borders. Most cultures believe killing the innocent or helpless or wrong, they value authority, and they place an importance on chastity and history.

I also found it very interesting that religious behavior in its earliest forms, could have been tied to natural selection. Dr. Haidt believes that in order to survive humans found ways to bind them together in groups, and similar beliefs created that bond. It is true in every form of socialization I have learned since childhood, those who are part of a group have an easier go of things.

He did kind of lose me in the political alignment of values. I consider myself liberal, and when I took the quiz provided on yourmorals.org, the results seemed odd to me. Maybe reading the article beforehand made the outcome somewhat skewed.