Kristof81 said:
All primates show signs of morality. It's "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" type of relation, where wellbeing of whole group is more important than individual gains. It's pretty basic, natural behaviour, which simply pays off and chimpanzees or gorillas don't need God to explain this. |
Yep, altruism is an evolutionary trait. It's important that a population survives because you need a male and a female to reproduce offspring and a larger population encourages greater genetic variation. It doesn't matter how fit an individual is if he/she cannot find a mate. So while altuistic behavior negatively affects individual fitness, it boosts population fitness allowing the population to survive and reproduce offspring.
