ABSTRACT
In the introduction, it was stated that people’s beliefs about what is right or wrong, about fairness and justice, are far from uniform. Moreover, it is known that, at least over generations, these beliefs can change significantly in time. Therefore, it seems implausible to explain the formation and change of social norms and values in terms of the heredity of corresponding genetic information. On the other hand, as a scholar at least, one would be ill-advised to view norms and values as being imposed upon man by a metaphysical agent since the underlying assumptions cannot be falsified. Fortunately, another set of falsifiable arguments exists which may allow for explaining the mechanism by which social norms and values form and change.
