Principia Cybernetica Web © Principia Cybernetica Web ©Parent Node(s):
A fundamental problem in founding an evolutionary ethics is to explain how cooperation and altruism can emerge during evolution (Campbell, 1979). The evolutionary principle of "the survival of the fittest" seems to predispose individuals to selfishness. Yet all ethical systems emphasize the essential value of helping others. Everybody will agree that cooperation is in general advantageous for the group of cooperators as a whole, even though it may curb some individual's freedom. Highly developed systems of cooperation and mutual support can be found in all human societies. Yet we still do not have a satisfactory explanation of how such social systems have emerged. Therefore we also cannot determine how they would or should evolve in the future.
Perhaps the most fashionable approach to this problem is sociobiology (Wilson, 1975). Sociobiology can be defined as an attempt to explain the social behavior of animals and humans on the basis of biological evolution. For example, a lot of sexual behavior can be understood through mechanisms of genetic selection reinforcing certain roles or patterns. Yet the biggest problem of social behavior, altruism and advanced cooperation, has not been adequately solved.
"Weak" altruism can be defined as behavior that benefits more to another individual than to the individual carrying out the behavior. "Strong" altruism denotes behavior that benefits others, but at one's own cost (Campbell, 1983). Both are common and necessary in those highly cooperative systems, which Campbell calls "ultrasocial". Ultrasociality refers to a collective organization with full division of labor, including individuals who gather no food but are fed by others, or who are prepared to sacrifice themselves for the defense of others. In the animal world, ultrasocial systems are found only in certain species of insects (ants, bees, termites), in naked mole rats, and in human society (Campbell, 1983).
Child Nodes:
Mis à jour le 01/04/2016 
pratclif.com