Evolutionary Explanation for Morality

Some genes are better at surviving than others. If a population group has individuals with the altruism characteristic, they help keep others in the group alive. If, for example, you have this characteristic, there's a good chance that it might exist in some of your siblings, cousins, etc. People who are likely to be around you.So, in being altruistic with no apparent reciprocation, you could benefit the altruism genes in, for example, a second cousin.Also, you could be genuinely altruistic without expecting reciprocation to someone who, although not so altruistic, did recognize the "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" system.You (and your genuine altruism genes) might then benefit a couple of years later when this person (unexpectedly) returns the favour.In this way, the tendency towards sheer altruism is a part of the cooperative side of our character. The individual wouldn't have to perceive his altruistic actions as being to his own advantage, and often they might not be. But if they sometimes were, that's enough for nature to select the genes that cause the characteristic.Perhaps it's a constant balance, because selfishness could also be advantageous in certain circumstances. It could be that the individual with the right balance of the two has the optimum character to be most likely to perpetuate his or her genes.That might explain why we have some individuals who are altruistic to the point of self-sacrifice, and others who are incredibly selfish, but the overwhelming majority are somewhere between those two extremes. They are not consciously selfish on the part of the individual. It's the tendency to be like that that must have benefited the genes in the past.Try imagining our species completely without characteristics like empathy and a moral/social conscience. It'd be chaos, and our ancestors would never have survived as a social animal that hunts, gathers and lives in groups.