Although at this point I'm beginning to think the OP is a drive-by. — Wayfarer
No drive-by, just distracted
:)
I believe a lot of our social behavior, including morality, is built in, human nature. — T Clark
The problem I have with this (and mine is an unpopular view), is that it invariably reduces morality to survival. After all, the only criterion for success in biological theory is reproductive fitness. — Wayfarer
I find myself leaning towards morality derived from evolutionary biology as my example of pro-existence morality may suggest. As T Clark said, morality, or in my opinion at least the first principal of morality, could be built into us as a species. Could it not be plausible that human morality is framed around the biological objective of reproductive fitness? For instance we notice throughout the animal kingdom that certain species will join together in order to increase reproductive success. A fish may swim in a school, an ant may work within it's colony, and a higher primate may operate in a social group. All of these behaviors came about through natural selection, and appear to benefit the organisms carrying them out.
In a sense one could consider the morality of the fish to stay near it's fellow fish. Now the fish likely does not consciously consider this morality, and we humans would likely prefer to call this an instinct; but can we be sure that our human morality is not a biological instinct as well? Other higher primates have shown altruistic behaviors while interacting with their social groups. It seems form an evolutionary standpoint, these behaviors would increase the reproductive fitness of the group and thus be a desirable or "fit" behavior. Could it be possible that we primates evolved certain moral "instincts" through means of natural selection? Could my urge to help a dying child I see on the side of the road, be instinctual in nature, similar to my fear of heights? I find a genetic morality plausible, though maybe not empirically provable for the moment.
So - it seems to me that what is needed to anchor morality is an objective good, a summum bonum. That is generally translated as the 'highest good' which naturally sounds religious — Wayfarer
As for a "summum bonum," since the overall objective in evolutionary biology seems to be fairly straightforward, could the objective good simply consist of reproductive fitness? It seems to me that most human moralities help humans coexist together in their respective social groups. Social groups which, when compared to the rest of nature, have proven themselves to be one of the most powerful reproductive fitness tools. In this sense I could see how reproductive fitness could be a basis for morality.