Evolution, Society, And Conscience: Social Influences On Morality

Abstract

Conscience is personal, but not idiosyncratic. It is a distinctly human capacity that stems directly from our sociality. No other species forms long-term plans, makes abstract moral judgments, or is motivated by shame, guilt, and pride. This constellation of human moral faculties is intertwined with our ability to develop a self that steers and evaluates our actions, both as we act and after. We can experience emotions due to memories of past transgressions and orient ourselves toward future goals that may be years away. We can develop self-understandings that guide ongoing behavior, such as trying to be a good citizen or a more caring family member. Other animals develop Bright Line equivalents in the limited sense that they possess approach and avoidance orientations toward their environment, but we would not claim—with a few exceptions in our primate cousins²—that animals form moral orientations toward the world. Only humans ask themselves questions about what moral goals are most important and then evaluate and potentially alter their behavior in light of those goals.

Hence, the tendency of society to satisfy its demands as cheaply as possible results in appeals to “good conscience,” through which the individual pays to himself the wages for his righteousness, which otherwise would probably have to be assured to him in some way through law or custom.

Georg Simmel¹