Reason, Morality, and Progress

I've started watching this panel discussion, Darwin 200: Evolution and the Ethical Brain, moderated by our old buddy, David Brooks. The purpose of the panel is quite clear: to expand upon the ideas found in Brooks' Apr. 6 column, The End of Philosophy - namely, that people are not rational when it comes to ethical decision-making. In their opinion, if there is such a thing as "morality," it is an "instinct" created by literally millions of years of evolutionary pressure. Something just feels "right" or "wrong" and that's the end of it.

But is it? When it comes to morality and emotion, there are few things more morally critical and emotionally powerful than race and gender. And yet, we have witnessed some astonishing (and positive) changes in just a few generations.

Take race.

According to Gallup, in 1948, only 4% of Americans approved of marriages between whites and blacks. By 2007, that number had reached 77%.

Take homosexuality.

In the 1973 NORC survey, 73% of Americans agreed that “homosexual relations are always wrong.” By 2002, that number has dropped to 55%. And among 18-29 year olds, that number was only 48%.

Gee that’s interesting…If you believe the evolutionary psychologists, morality is an emotional instinct and a product of literally millions of years of mindless environment…but these poll numbers suggest another possibility…that morality can change – and change quite rapidly – due to reason – a heightened understanding of what is truly "right and wrong” – not just what is personally useful for our "sperm competition."

This is a good thing. We should be proud of our species’ ability to adapt and improve. There’s a lot of evidence to support it. So why do the evolutionary psychologists insist on using skewed data to dehumanize us?

-Todd

**UPDATE, AUG. 20, 2009**

From Ryan Sager’s new article, The Gay Gap...

As contentious as the debate over gay marriage can get sometimes, I’ve always taken comfort in one simple fact: This is a generational battle, and that means the younger generation wins… eventually.

We all know there’s a gap between how old folks feel about same-sex marriage and how young folks feel. What you might not quite grasp is just how tremendous that gap is. A new paper (”Gay Rights in the States: Public Opinion and Policy Responsiveness” [PDF]) by Jefferey Lax and Justin Phillips puts it in a bit of perspective.

Just how big is the gay marriage age gap? Between the under-30 crowd and the over-65 crowd: 35 percentage points.

Or, try this on for size, at the state level: If people over 65 in each state made the laws, 0 states would have gay marriage; if people under 30 made the laws, 38 states would have gay marriage.

What does it mean? Well, it means the overwhelming majority of states are likely to have gay marriage laws in most of our lifetimes.