The Limits of Evolutionary Ethics

Abstract

AbstractFriedrich Nietzsche's ethical theory has two components: one negative, the other positive. The negative component is his genealogical program. Its primary function is critical and destructive. Nietzsche wanted to undermine deeply held values by exposing their sordid history and base underlying motives. The positive component is captured in Nietzsche's myth of the "bermensch — a being who is capable of living in a world beyond the good and evil dichotomy of contemporary morality. The theme of natural values appears inOn the Genealogy of Morals, where Nietzsche claims that our current values are reactive, or reactionary. This chapter concedes that we are biologically prone to have certain kinds of values, but rejects the notion that there is an innate morality. It also argues that our biological predispositions do not qualify as moral rules without cultural elaboration. Morality is artificial all the way down, and 'evolutionary ethics" is a myth.