evolution of morality

Attributed morality definition

Record whether an account centres cooperation, obligation, evaluative judgment, emotions or another criterion, identifying who adopts that definition.

1. What does this account require for a capacity or practice to count as moral, and which researchers or traditions endorse that requirement? definition
2. Would conventional rule following, strategic cooperation or harm avoidance count under this definition, and why? boundary

Specified explanandum

Record whether the account explains a capacity to make moral judgments, a motivation to act, or the distribution of a particular moral rule.

1. Is the target the capacity to experience obligation, the motivation to comply, or the content of a particular obligation? definition
2. What observation would show that the account explains its stated target rather than only a neighbouring phenomenon such as compliance? measurement

Trait origin hypothesis

Record the proposed capacity, inheritance assumptions and whether its moral role is explained as an adaptation, co-option, by-product or unresolved outcome.

1. Which capacity is proposed to have evolved biologically, and what connects variation in that capacity to inheritance and reproductive consequences? definition
2. What evidence distinguishes selection for this capacity's proposed moral function from co-option, constraint or a by-product explanation? measurement

Mechanism and payoff conditions

Record assumptions about relatedness, repeated interaction, partner choice, reputation and group structure wherever an account depends on them.

1. Which social conditions make the proposed trait advantageous, and whose costs and benefits are being counted? definition
2. What evidence supports those conditions in the relevant population rather than merely showing that the mechanism works in a formal model? provenance

Transmission and transformation

Record who learns from whom, what is retained or reconstructed, and whether spread is attributed to learning biases, persuasion, coercion or other processes.

1. What moral rule or practice is transmitted, and how are continuity and substantive change recognised across generations or groups? definition
2. Which observations distinguish conformity or prestige-based adoption from coercion, independent invention or reasoned revision? measurement

Institutional maintenance and change

Record how formal and informal enforcement affects public compliance, private endorsement and opportunities for norm revision.

1. Who rewards, punishes or authorises the norm, and how do the costs and benefits differ across affected groups? provenance
2. How does the evidence distinguish sincere moral endorsement from compliance produced by surveillance, dependence or threat? measurement
3. What change in enforcement or authority would help test the proposed explanation of the norm's persistence? action

Acquisition and inheritance links

Record how an account connects developmental predispositions, learning environments and cultural feedback to its evolutionary claims.

1. Which observations concern learning within a lifetime, and which support change across biological generations or cultural transmission cycles? boundary
2. What evidence would distinguish an early-developing predisposition from an effect of early experience or their interaction? measurement
3. If gene-culture interaction is proposed, what feedback pathway and evidence are specified for each direction of influence? provenance

Comparable moral indicators

Record what helping, punishment, inequity responses or obligation judgments indicate under each study's definition and design.

1. Does the task measure behaviour, motivation, norm understanding or explicit judgment, and is that interpretation comparable across the sampled populations or species? measurement
2. What alternative explanations, such as reward expectation, learned association or task misunderstanding, remain compatible with the result? boundary
3. What additional evidence would justify treating a cross-species similarity as shared ancestry rather than convergence or superficial resemblance? provenance

Discriminating evidence

Record which observations support one mechanism over alternatives and where multiple mechanisms remain compatible with the evidence.

1. Which prediction differs between the proposed explanation and its strongest specified alternative? measurement
2. Which sources provide direct observations, reconstructions or model results, and what inferential gap separates each from the claimed historical process? provenance
3. What feasible observation or analysis would most reduce uncertainty between the competing explanations? action

Explicit normative bridge

Record additional premises whenever an account uses evolutionary origins to justify, undermine or rank moral beliefs.

1. Does the argument infer moral validity, unreliability or progress from an evolutionary history, and what additional premises support that inference? boundary
2. If a change is called moral progress, which evaluative standard is used and who endorses or disputes it? definition
3. Which conclusions should an agent withhold if the evolutionary explanation is supported but the proposed normative bridge remains disputed? action

Check these first

Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.

1. Which of these check these first hold for the sense of evolution of morality this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance

Kinds and varieties

Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.

1. Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of evolution of morality this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance

Real-world use

Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.

1. Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of evolution of morality this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance

Typical measurements

Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.

1. Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of evolution of morality this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance

Failure modes and hazards

Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.

1. Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of evolution of morality this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance

Regional variation

Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.

1. Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of evolution of morality this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance

Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart

Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.

1. Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of evolution of morality this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance