xii, 350 pages : 24 cm

Reveals how humans have evolved from social primates into moral primates, exploring the implications of fuzzy logic, fate, free will, and ecology, among other issues affecting the way humans think about moral issues

Includes bibliographical references (pages 317-330) and index

Prologue : one long argument -- I. The origins of morality -- Transcendent morality : how evolution ennobles ethics -- Why we are moral : the evolutionary origins of morality -- Why we are immoral : war, violence, and the ignoble savage within -- Master of my fate : making moral choices in a determined universe -- II. A science of provisional ethics -- Can we be good without God? : science, religion, and morality -- How we are moral : absolute, relative, and provisional ethics -- How we are immoral : right and wrong and how to tell the difference -- Rise above : tolerance, freedom, and the prospects for humanity -- Appendix I. The devil under form of baboon : the evolution of evolutionary ethics -- Appendix II. Moral and religious universals as a subset of human universals

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