Brian Zamulinski

Chapter Seven

 

The last chapter evaluates evolutionary intuitionism as a theory.  I am not going to summarize everything but I repeat two major points. 

 

First, I think it locates moral facts in the right place.  If they are too distant from us – as I think they would be if they were logical truths or the commands of God – it becomes hard to explain how we know of them and how they influence us.  If they are too close, they become indistinguishable from what we merely want and it becomes hard to understand why anybody would take anybody else’s moral claims seriously, let alone why they should.  Our attitude would be that they say it’s wrong but they’re just whining because they didn’t get their way. 

 

Second, it is not merely metaphorical that we are each other’s brothers and sisters.  The moral relationships between members of the natural moral community are real and significant.  Our moral kinship is as real as other biologically significant relationships.  Thus, morally as well as theoretically, it seems to get things right.