Darwin And Huxley About The Origin Of Morality

In the process of self-awareness of human beings,the origin ofmorality is a controversial issue in academic circle. Standing on differentstarting point, we would come to different conclusions. Darwin’s moralview can be described as unique, so he gave his scientific explanationon it in biological sense.Darwins theory of evolution has proved that human is a product ofevolution, and there is continuity between humans and animals. Thetheory Completely subverts the traditional boundaries betweenhumans and animals, and fundamentally changes peoplesunderstanding of themselves, this study found a scientific basis for theorigin of morals.Seeing the similarity and continuity of animals and humans, Darwinattempted to examine the origins of human morality which was basedon the theory of evolution,also to understand the formation anddevelopment of human morality in the evolution of life.He held that morality originated from social emotions, mainlysympathy. Under the influence of natural selection, social emotionsprevailed against general emotions, and then morality emerged. As aresult, Darwin insisted that morality had a natural history.Huxley was an active supporter of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.However, they held different views on the origin of morality. Huxleysupported that sympathy was the first origination of morality, but it wasnot sufficient, because immorality and morality evolved simultaneously. Thus, in sociological sense, Huxley was convinced that in the evolutionof morality, artificial educational cultivation was also needed todevelop the kindness in human’s nature.The first part of this thesis is the main contents of the Darwins moralvalues.It focuses on why Darwin paid close attention to the origin ofmorals, the origin from emotion and moral development.The main content of the second part is Huxleys ethics overview, andthe comparison of moral issues between Huxley and Darwin.The third part is both sides’academic origins. Darwin was affectedby Hume and Adam Smith but Huxley is subject to the influence ofHobbes.