ASEBL Journal – Volume 11 Issue 1, January 2015
row down small enough analyze our moral history by examining the lower three levels
of biology using morally-loaded analogies.
Imagine various oughts evolving over time, always remembering that the ultimate
want is survival. We could then imagine telling the following morality plays about the
history of the evolution of life on Earth (while keeping in mind that I’m using poetic
license to ascribe intentions to entities that clearly have none). For example, “1. The
Morals of Biochemistry”: These chemicals bond readily to those chemicals to form a
useful compound. But those chemicals are in short supply and being wasted in other
bonds. These chemicals ought to bond with all of those chemicals. The end. (This first
play has no tradeoffs in it so it’s rather boring.) Then we progress to “2. The Morals of
Molecular Biology”: But what if no chemicals are left over for other useful compounds? Our first compounds would benefit from combining with other useful compounds. Those first compounds ought to leave some chemicals for other compounds
so that together they can make a really useful compound called a molecule. The end.
You can repeat the storyline for yourself through the levels of cellular biology (3)
building the first complex organisms (4), which evolve into cooperative societies (5)
and fill niches in the ecology (6), which all change over evolutionary timeframes (7).
Each story, over and over, being one of competition in the short term giving way to
broader cooperation over the long term for the benefit of all.
Of course, the lack of “free will” (here, I mean freedom to choose) within the first
three levels of biochemistry, molecular, and cellular biology mean that we must project our emotional pulls onto the actors in those plays. But given their roles as our
own ancestors and building blocks, we find it easy to do so and root heartily for them
to succeed. After that, the procession is easy to follow. Can a person act to survive at
the expense of others? Not for very long, and not if she has a choice, for she ݽձ