How Did Human Morality Evolve? - Victor Kumar

Dr Victor Kumar is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Boston University, part of the Mind & Morality Lab's Moral Psychology Research Group and an author. Morality might seem like something that exists independently of humans. Things are either good or bad, the current evolutionary state humans in in should not impact this judgement. Yet it seems that culture and evolution heavily inescapably each other, and they influenced morality too. Expect to learn why Asian people get red faces when they drink alcohol, which moral emotions can be detected in chimpanzees, why sympathy can be seen as investment advice, how come some people can consume milk and others can't, whether moral grandstanding and performative empathy on Twitter can be explained by evolution, the reason for altruism existing and much more... Sponsors: Get 83% discount & 3 months free from Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/MODERNWISDOM (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get 5 Free Travel Packs, Free Liquid Vitamin D and more from Athletic Greens at https://athleticgreens.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get 20% discount on House Of Macadamias’ nuts at https://houseofmacadamias.com/modernwisdom (use code MW20) Extra Stuff: Buy A Better Ape - https://amzn.to/3WZM4qO Check out Victor's website - http://www.victorkumar.org/ Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom - 00:00 Intro 00:32 Is Evolution Relevant to Morality? 06:50 How Dr Kumar Defines Morality 14:10 Features of the Human Moral Mind 19:05 Why Humans Differ to Chimps on Respect 29:11 Are There Bad & Good Emotions? 35:06 When Humans Developed Moral Emotions 43:12 How General Altruism Evolved in Humans 47:55 Evolution of Virtue-Signalling 51:23 Did Religiosity Evolve? 1:06:23 Is Morality Objective? 1:14:33 Where to Find Dr Kumar? - Get access to every episode 10 hours before YouTube by subscribing for free on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn or Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Get my free Reading List of 100 life-changing books here - https://chriswillx.com/books/ - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/

Victor KumarguestChris Williamsonhost

Jan 7, 20231h 15mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: January 7, 2023
Duration: 1h 15m
Channel: Modern Wisdom
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Dr Victor Kumar is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Boston University, part of the Mind & Morality Lab's Moral Psychology Research Group and an author. Morality might seem like something that exists independently of humans. Things are either good or bad, the current evolutionary state humans in in should not impact this judgement. Yet it seems that culture and evolution heavily inescapably each other, and they influenced morality too. Expect to learn why Asian people get red faces when they drink alcohol, which moral emotions can be detected in chimpanzees, why sympathy can be seen as investment advice, how come some people can consume milk and others can't, whether moral grandstanding and performative empathy on Twitter can be explained by evolution, the reason for altruism existing and much more... Sponsors: Get 83% discount & 3 months free from Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/MODERNWISDOM (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get 5 Free Travel Packs, Free Liquid Vitamin D and more from Athletic Greens at https://athleticgreens.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get 20% discount on House Of Macadamias’ nuts at https://houseofmacadamias.com/modernwisdom (use code MW20) Extra Stuff: Buy A Better Ape - https://amzn.to/3WZM4qO Check out Victor's website - http://www.victorkumar.org/ Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom - 00:00 Intro 00:32 Is Evolution Relevant to Morality? 06:50 How Dr Kumar Defines Morality 14:10 Features of the Human Moral Mind 19:05 Why Humans Differ to Chimps on Respect 29:11 Are There Bad & Good Emotions? 35:06 When Humans Developed Moral Emotions 43:12 How General Altruism Evolved in Humans 47:55 Evolution of Virtue-Signalling 51:23 Did Religiosity Evolve? 1:06:23 Is Morality Objective? 1:14:33 Where to Find Dr Kumar? - Get access to every episode 10 hours before YouTube by subscribing for free on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn or Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Get my free Reading List of 100 life-changing books here - https://chriswillx.com/books/ - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/

SPEAKERS

Victor Kumar
guest
Chris Williamson
host

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Modern Wisdom, featuring Victor Kumar and Chris Williamson, How Did Human Morality Evolve? - Victor Kumar explores how Evolution, Culture, And Religion Shaped The Human Moral Mind Victor Kumar explains morality as a product of gene–culture co‑evolution, where biological dispositions and cultural norms co-develop to enable complex human cooperation.

RELATED EPISODES