8 Evolutionary Debunking Arguments in Three Domains

Religion and morality are traditional targets for evolutionary debunking arguments. When used to target religious beliefs these are part of a larger tradition of naturalistic debunking arguments that can be traced back at least to David Hume (1956/1757). Evolutionary debunking arguments against moral beliefs have been influential since Darwin first gave an evolutionary account of the origin of the moral sense, and remain important in contemporary moral philosophy (e.g. Joyce 2006). Probably the most widely-discussed evolutionary debunking argument in contemporary philosophy is that of Alvin Plantinga, who argues that if the mind has evolved by natural selection and without a creator God, then we have no reason to suppose that any of our beliefs are true (Plantinga 1991; 1993). ¹ So evolutionary scepticism can be directed at science and commonsense, as well as its more traditional targets!