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The Secret Chain: Evolution and Ethics (Suny Series in Philosophy an (Suny Series, Philosophy & Biology)

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This is a useful scholarly resource for the debate over philosophies and theories of the evolution of ethics, placing the questions in the context of the history of philosophy. Frequently noted and carefully examined here is the resemblance of Darwinian theory both to and in the context of the philosophy of ethics, and of economic ideology, from Mandeville to Smith, with Hume and Kant in the mainline. The ambiguity of sociobiological theories of altruism is thus seen in its own peculiar lineage. Has evolutionary theory really transcended this history of philosophy? The book is sympathetic to Darwinism yet gives sufficient ground to stand back and examine the history of the theory in a broader context.