The Evolutionary Basis Of Biological Altruism And Its Significance To Human Morality

With the development of archaeology and molecular biology,the Darwinian theory of evolution,with the help of natural selection,has increasingly reliable explanations for the generation and change of organisms.In nature,altruistic behavior is a stable and sustainable behavior strategy,which should be regarded as the object of natural selection.However,according to the definition,altruistic behavior is the behavior that an organism sacrifices its own fitness to increase the fitness of others,and it is difficult for an organism losing the fitness to gain an advantage in the survival competition,so that altruistic individuals cannot evolve smoothly.However,this is in contradiction with the widespread phenomenon of altruism in nature,which is also known as "the evolutionary problem of altruism".In order to solve this problem,many scholars have tried to develop and perfect the traditional theory of evolution.Kin selection,reciprocal altruism,selfish genes,and group selection,which enrich the original natural selection theory,provide a reliable explanation for the possible evolution of altruistic behavior.But there are some debates among these theories,especially about the units of natural selection.According to the objects of natural selection,those theories can be divided into individual selection and group selection.In the academic world,supporters of individual selection often question the authenticity of group selection.However,individual selection and group selection theory are not incompatible.Based on "price equation",multi-level selection believes that individual selection and group selection can play a role in their respective levels,thus expanding the perspective of natural selection theory.This paper aims to introduce these theories of natural selection and analyze how they solve the evolutionary problem of altruism.At the same time,this paper investigates the reasons for the disputes between individual selection theory and group selection theory,and discusses how multi-level selection integrates individual selection theory and group selection theory by explaining "price equation" in detail.In addition,there is a close relationship between altruistic behavior and human moral behavior.To some extent,altruistic behavior can be regarded as the rudiment of moral behavior.Under this understanding,is there a certain biological basis for human morality? Does human morality has something to do with the theory of natural selection? Are there different interpretations of human morality in the evolutionary context? This paper will also try to give some possible explanations for these problems.