Is survival value especially gripping, given behaviorism?
Apparently not — depends on what happens to reinforce Skinner, due to historical accidents. Possible confusion: if natural selection is the ultimate cause of human morality, then the survival of the species (or one’s “culture”) is the highest moral value. Two problems: • This depends on a very dubious theory of group selection. According to the consensus of biologists, natural selection does not favor behavior that benefits the group at the expense of the individual’s genes. So, natural selection would not tend to give human beings an overriding concern for the welfare of the species (or of any other large group, like the culture). • Confuses the nature of the relationship between natural selection and moral values. Any concern for the welfare of humanity is a product of a “high” morality (in Darwin’s sense), which is in turn the by-product of other, more fundamental adaptations. But, within the sphere of “high” morality, a concern for the welfare of humanity depends on a belief that
