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Caring about the well-being of others is a human universal. Although they may express these values differently, all cultures endorse fairness, reciprocity, empathy, and cooperation. The existence of these universal traits has been used as an argument against evolution because, if we are all fighting each other to survive, why would we help each other?

As you read in Chapter 14, this is a misconstrual of evolutionary theory. Specifically, altruistic behavior is the optimal strategy for social animals. If you live in a group with individuals with whom you will likely interact again, your reputation matters and working together toward a common goal improves everyone's fitness. Additionally, if you live with blood relatives, helping them improves your own inclusive fitness.

One type of evidence for what we call "morality" being an evolved trait comes from behavioral experiments with other social species. In this TED talk, Franz de Waal discusses several experiments that unambiguously demonstrate cooperate behavior, sharing behavior, and sensitivity to unfairness in non-human animals.

Moral behavior in animals | Frans de Waal- youtube

Question: What are your thoughts on the video?