The Expanded Self: Society as Self 281“9x6” b2726 Self and the Phenomenon of Life: A Biologist Examines Life from Molecules to HumanityWe all have a social conscience — an inborn sense of what is right and
wrong. Unable to find a simple explanation, Kant attributed the source
of this intrinsic character to God. However, ever since the discovery of
evolution, a straightforward explanation can now be derived from natural
selection alone. The reason is simple: a species with an innate “conscience”
that promotes group cohesion will have a better chance of survival than
one without it. Kant died in 1804, fifty five years before the publication of
Darwin’s Origin of Species. Kant might have had second thoughts on the
source of morality had he heard of the theory of evolution.^43
12.10.3 Judeo-Christian-Muslim view
Unlike Kant who started from secular reasoning and arrived at God as
a source of morality, the monotheistic religions assert at the outset that
morality comes as a divine mandate, a decree from a personal God, as in
the Ten Commandments. They adhere to the Golden Rule — do unto
others what you would like others do unto you — and stress eternal hap-
piness in the afterlife as a reward for a virtuous earthly life. Christians, in
particular, attribute the negative aspects of human behavior to an “orig-
inal sin” committed by man’s forefather, and believe in the power and
grace of God as the only way to absorb this sin and to achieve salvation.^44
12.10.4 Utilitarian view
Advocated by John Stuart Mill, it stresses that the moral value of an act
depends on its consequences in a society. From the standpoint of evolu-
tion, there is no intrinsic conflict between utilitarianism and the innate
goodness of human nature, since our sense of goodness (conscience) is
a product of our animal instinct, which in turn is shaped by the survival
value of our species (utilitarian) selected over evolutionary time.
12.10.5 Confucian view
It believes people are basically kind and good, and they become bad only
if they are exposed to bad external influence. It stresses the middle of the