Evolution and Ethics: Human Morality in Biological and Religious Perspective [Paperback]

Philip Clayton (Editor), Jeffrey Schloss (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2004

Christians frequently resist evolutionary theory, believing it to be incompatible with the core values of their tradition. But what exactly are the tensions between evolution and religious faith in the area of human morality? Evolution and Ethics examines the burning questions of human morality from the standpoint of Christian thought and contemporary biology, asking where the two perspectives diverge and where they may complement one another. Representing a significant dialogue between world-class scientists, philosophers, and theologians, this volume explores the central features of biological and religious accounts of human morality, introducing the leading theories and locating the key points of contention. Central to these discussions are the questions of whether human actions are ever genuinely selfless, whether there is something in the moral life that transcends biological function, and whether one can sensibly speak of an overall purpose to the course of evolution. Certain to engage scholars, students, and general readers alike, Evolution and Ethics offers a balanced, levelheaded, constructive approach to an often divisive debate.

Product Details

• Paperback: 339 pages
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (August 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802826954
• ISBN-13: 978-0802826954
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,348,607 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Philip Clayton holds a triple appointment at Claremont: in the department of Religion, the department of Philosophy, and as Ingraham Professor at Claremont School of Theology. His previous teaching posts include Williams College and the California State University; he has also held invited guest professorships at the University of Munich (2 years), the University of Cambridge, and Harvard Divinity School (also two years).

Professor Clayton has published widely across the theological disciplines, as well as in
the philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, history of philosophy, and the philosophy of religion. He has worked extensively on the relationship between science, philosophy, and religion, and he is recognized as one of the leading figures in this field internationally.

Clayton received a joint doctorate in philosophy and religious studies from Yale University. Since that time he has written or edited some 18 books and over a hundred articles in the field.

(1) As a theologian, he has sought to rekindle theological imagination in the churches and to bring academic theologians back in touch with ordinary believers. He heads up a Ford Foundation-sponsored grant to support progressive theologies that have transformative effects in churches and in American society. He is also active in interfaith collaborations aimed at reducing religious violence, supporting just peacemaking, and addressing the global ecological crisis.

(2) Within the natural sciences, Clayton's research has focused on emergent dynamics in biology and on the neural correlates of consciousness in neuroscience. He has co-authored or edited a number of publications with physicists, chemists, and biologists, analyzing emerging natural systems and exploring their significance for the study of religion. He is perhaps best known for his work in exploring the philosophical and religious implications of emergence theory, published as Mind and Emergence: From Quantum to Consciousness (Oxford, 2004). In addition to his own publications, Clayton has been a leading advocate for the internationalization of the science-religion dialogue. As P.I. for the "Science and the Spiritual Quest" program, and more recently as senior advisor and judge for the "Global Perspectives in Science and Spirituality" program, both funded by the Templeton Foundation, he has been at the forefront of efforts to expand scholarship in this field into the non-Western traditions.

His book publications as author or editor include The Problem of God in Modern Thought; God and Contemporary Science; Explanation from Physics to Theology: An Essay in Rationality and Religion; Quantum Mechanics: The Problem of Divine Action; Evolution and Ethics: Human Morality in Biological and Religious Perspective; Science and the Spiritual Quest; The Re-Emergence of Emergence; In Quest of Freedom: The Emergence of Spirit in the Natural World; and Transforming Theology (September 2009).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can Neo-Darwinism Explain Ultimate Human Love and Sacrifice?, June 21, 2006

By 

Discovery Reviewer (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Evolution and Ethics: Human Morality in Biological and Religious Perspective (Paperback)

Evolution and Ethics examines the burning questions of human morality from the standpoint of Christian thought and contemporary biology, asking where the two perspectives diverge and where they may complement one another. Representing a significant dialogue between world-class scientists, philosophers, and theologians, this volume explores the central features of biological and religious accounts of human morality, introducing the leading theories and locating the key points of contention. Central to these discussions are the questions of whether human actions are ever genuinely selfless, whether there is something in the moral life that transcends biological function, and whether one can sensibly speak of an overall purpose to the course of evolution. Evolution and Ethics offers a balanced, levelheaded, constructive approach to an often divisive debate.

Of interest in this volume are articles by Jeffrey P. Schloss and Discovery Fellow Joseph Poulshock. Poulshock recognizes that Darwinian explanations like "kin selection" can account for altruism within groups of closely related individuals. However human social interactions clearly require explanations which go far beyond Darwinian explanations. That is, nearly every major religion has proscriptions similar to the "Golden Rule." For instance, Christian notions of being the "good Samaritan" and Hebraic moral codes calling for kindness to foreigners, require explanations beyond reference to "selfish genes."

Poulshock explains that social groups with strong moral codes eventually become governed by those codes. Thus it is ideas--communicated through written and spoken language--which seem to have the greatest impact upon human ethics.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice Overview of the Relevant Issues, October 21, 2004

By 

Max Johnson "Neo-Whiteheadian Doctoral Student" (Claremont, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evolution and Ethics: Human Morality in Biological and Religious Perspective (Paperback)

This book is a terrific overview of the questions concerning the ULTIMATE SOURCE of moral values. Have values developed as part of human socio-cultural evolution? Are they nothing but the outer manifestation of the innerworkings of "selfish" genes? Is "morality" just a particular type of discourse used for conveying personal emotions about certain activities? Or do they arise from our "intuitions of the divine?" (Or perhaps some combination of these?). Highly recommended for anyone interested in current trends within the science/religion dialogue, and anyone interested in evolutionary psychology.

6 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Fact/Value Divide: Where Is It?, April 8, 2008

By 

D. S. Heersink "D. Stephen Heersink" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evolution and Ethics: Human Morality in Biological and Religious Perspective (Paperback)

The author's suggestion of "evolutionary ethics" is seriously confused. T. H. Huxley in the 1890s wrote a valuable essay, evolution AND ethics. That work has been republished by Princeton University Press with sociobiologist George Williams' epilogue. Unlike the book under review, neither Huxley nor Williams confuse IS for OUGHT, or OUGHT for IS.

It's one thing to find VALUES compatible with FACTS, it is a logical fallacy to claim a FACT is a VALUE, or a VALUE is a FACT. The Fact/Value Divide, implicit in Aristotle, was made explicit in Hume's Treatise (1740) and G. E. Mooore's Principia Ethica (1903), which the present author ignores to everyones' detriment.

Crime is a fact. Do we value it? Of course not! Love is a value? Does that make it a fact? Of course not! Something SO basic as the Fact/Value Divide is not basic to this author or his book. His entire edifice collapses because he stretches facts into values, and values into facts.

Whether insights are valuable or not cannot be determined with so much confused thinking and writing. Some call it "contamination" and "pollution" so toxic not even metaphysicians can make it pure. All I know is that he cannot make facts into values, and values into facts. So what does he make?