Ethical evolution – B’reshit
Whether Darwinian views of evolution are tenable is vigorously debated.
Many aspects are debated including a possibly parallel process of ethical development. Does the survival of the fittest apply to ideas and social structures?
One of the major essays on the subject is a contribution by Dr Daiches Raphael to a book called “A Century of Darwin”, edited by SA Barnett.
Dr Raphael wants to know whether human ethics are a product of evolution; does evolution direct or indicate the future development of ethics, and does ethical development have an influence on the future of evolution?
A major analysis of the subject came from Teilhard de Chardin, who believed that over time, the ethical spirit of man would refine itself and ethical primitiveness would recede and give way to good order.
