ABSTRACT
Individuals make judgements as to what is right and what is wrong, and these judgements are based on (and contribute to) a moral code. Because a moral code necessarily has an abstract structure we expect that structure to have a foundation, and are accustomed to find it in the religious system. But does that necessarily mean that the moral code originates with the religious system? It may have been legitimated, purveyed and stabilised by the religious system, but how far it derives from and depends on religion is another matter. These are critical questions today, and will be considered in this and the next two chapters (Chapters 13 and 14), and again in Chapter 18. This chapter proposes that a scientific approach can contribute to understanding the nature of moral codes and considers how the propensities to behave prosocially or with selfish assertiveness arose in human evolution, and how they are passed on in the development of individuals.
