#683 Allen Buchanan - Our Moral Fate: Evolution and the Escape from Tribalism
RECORDED ON JUNE 21st 2022.
Dr. Allen Buchanan is James B. Duke Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Duke University, and Laureate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona. He has written six books covering such topics as applied ethics (especially bio-medical ethics), social justice, and international justice, including the foundations of international law. He is the author of Our Moral Fate: Evolution and the Escape from Tribalism.
In this episode, we focus on Our Moral Fate. We discuss how to think about morality from an evolutionary perspective. We get into wrong assumptions people have about tribalism and cooperation. We talk about the Two Great Expansions of our moral circle, involving human beings and nonhuman animals. We discuss how moral progress occurs, and if we should talk about moral change in terms of “progress” and “regress”. We talk about moral reasoning and its limitations. We get into what ideology is from an evolutionary perspective. Finally, we talk about recent tribalism, and scientifically-informed moral institutional design.
Time Links:
Intro
Morality from an evolutionary perspective
Tribalism
The Tribalistic Dogma – wrong assumptions about human tribalism
The distinction between the “moral mind” and “morals”
The evolution of a flexible moral mind
The Cooperation Dogma
The Two Great Expansions of our circle of moral regard – human beings and nonhuman animals
How moral progress occurs
Are “progress” and “regress” the correct ways of thinking about moral change?
The expansion of the concept of “human being”
Moral reasoning, and its limitations
What is ideology?
Recent tribalism
Scientifically-informed moral institutional design
Dr. Buchanan’s upcoming book
Follow Dr. Buchanan’s work!
Follow Dr. Buchanan’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/327EdQL
ResearchGate profile: https://bit.ly/3p3itOu
Our Moral Fate: https://amzn.to/3kHlbqS