Abstract

LENCASTRE, Marina Prieto Afonso. Goodness, altruism and cooperation. Evolutionary considerations for education and environmental ethics. Rev. Lusófona de Educação [online]. 2010, n.15, pp.113-124. ISSN 1645-7250.

The paper discusses the origin of human goodness and its relation to social altruism and cooperation, in the context of evolutionary biology.Its natural foundations are presented, considering animal precursors like social empathy and the theory of mind, in primates. Some of the ethological and psychological conditions for human ethics and the experience of goodness in a globalized world are discussed. Signified by language, goodness and compassion are vital both for the foundation of environmental ethics as for education of environmental values.

Keywords : Goodness; altruism; cooperation; evolution; environment; ethics.

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