Thomistic Natural Law as Darwinian Natural Right

Abstract

The publication in 1975 of Edward O. Wilson'sSociobiologyprovoked a great controversy, for in that work Wilson claimed that ethics was rooted in human biology. On the first page of the book, he asserted that our deepest intuitions of right and wrong are guided by the emotional control centers of the brain, which evolved via natural selection to help the human animal exploit opportunities and avoid threats in the natural environment. In 1998, the publication of Wilson'sConsiliencerenewed the controversy, as he continued to argue for explaining ethics through the biology of the moral sentiments.