ABSTRACT
One way to evaluate moral actions is to locate them on a continuum from pure self-interest to concern for the other. Moral exemplars are those persons whose thoughts and actions are uniquely directed toward concern for others, which typically goes beyond what the average person would do in a similar situation. Moral exemplarity is partially made possible according to basic aspects of an evolved human nature. Thus, it is possible to naturalize moral exemplarity in the sense that science can help us to better understand how this property arises in particular persons. This does not necessitate a reduction of moral exemplarity to evolution or biology, but science may provide an additional perspective on the formation of moral exemplarity as a characteristic of self-sacrificing persons.
