Can theories of evolution explain the development of our capacity

for moral judgment and the content of morality itself?

If bad behavior punished by the criminal law is attributable

to physical causes, rather than being intentional or voluntary

as traditionally assumed, what are the implications for rethinking

the criminal justice system? Is evolutionary theory

and “nature talk,” at least as practiced to date, inherently

conservative and resistant to progressive and feminist proposals

for social changes to counter subordination and secure

equality?



In Evolution and Morality, a group of contributors from philosophy,

law, political science, history, and genetics address

many of the philosophical, legal, and political issues raised

by such questions. This insightful interdisciplinary volume

examines the possibilities of a naturalistic ethics, the implications

of behavioral morality for reform of the criminal law,

the prospects for a biopolitical science, and the relationship

between nature, culture, and social engineering.