(May 26, 2015 at 3:36 pm)Heywood Wrote:(May 26, 2015 at 3:22 pm)Jörmungandr Wrote: And as I pointed out, nature evolved us as a social species, and it is the requirements of prospering as a social species which lead to the choice of egalitarianism. The meddling intellect evolved in such a way that this is the most profitable meddling. Our intellect didn't choose to make us a social species; we evolved that trait. The rest is contingent upon us having evolved to be a social species. No, egalitarianism didn't evolve as a free standing attribute, but even if it had, you've given no reason why it couldn't. You're strawmanning evolution by calling it mere happenstance; evolution works under the constraints of natural selection. You're misrepresenting that the alternative to your god theory is mere randomness; it isn't. We evolved our social nature as a response to the contingencies presented by the environment we evolved in, in relation to our phenotype. It wasn't "random happenstance."
Egalitarianism is a recent modern phenomena. It is not something we evolved. It is an assumption that certain human societies accept and other human societies reject. If it is but a choice and not a universal truth, then there is nothing wrong with a society deciding gays are lessor human beings or women shouldn't vote.
You're misrepresenting what I said. I stated that we evolved the trait of being a social species, and that the choice of egalitarianism became the optimal choice under those conditions. No, we didn't evolve egalitarianism; I never said we did. It is a choice based on a truth which is universal within the context of our species. That some societies do not accept egalitarianism as the optimal solution given our social nature is an empirical fact, not an endorsement of non-egalitarian solutions; it profits your argument none to acknowledge that some societies have rejected egalitarianism, you need to show that their doing so is as optimal as adopting egalitarianism. I'll thank you not to so blatantly misrepresent my position again. All you accomplish in doing so is to commit the fallacy of erecting a straw man.
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