Originally posted by Alfheim
Well if you dont want to post whole pages thats up to you, but you do realise that im just taking your word for it? Basically all you did is talk about theory and not really explain how its a fact. Im not talking specifically about evolution as a whole but this for example.How do you know that for a fact?
Don't use "fact", use "probable hypothesis" because the former leads to dogmatic belief structures.
In any case, it's because I have read extensively on evolutionary theory and have seen numerous case studies and mathematical models to support the claim. A good starting point is "The Selfish Gene" from Richard Dawkins in his pre-anti-religion days when he was just a biologist. There's entire chapters devoted to how reciprocal altruism helps to create ESS's (Evolutionary Stable States) in a variety of animals, first on a fmaily level as well as larger levels of species altruism and friendship altruism. The extended anneversary edition has some additional chapters that describe how game theory (notably the Prisoner's Dilemma) helps to moderate these ESS's.
That's usually the problem with such discussions. No one's read the same stuff, so we have no way of knowing what's BS and what isn't (because plenty of people fudge their facts in any forum of debate). But aside from citing page numbers and sh*t like that, there's not much more I can do....and I'm usually the one having to support my arguments with legit sources and should probably start demanding it of others more often, because I don't just pull things out of nowhere when it serves my argument.
Originally posted by Alfheim
Right...ok...so what do you do with a statement like that...its not wrong. Ok lets look at some example "Stealing is an example of selfishness", "Theres no such thing as selfish or unselfish", "Murder is an example of being selfish", "Theres no such thing as selfish or unselfish" 😬
Nah, that's you ascribing moral slants to actions based upon your own interpretation of morality. They aren't constants, and they aren't absolutes. There isn't an objective viewpoint from which we can accurately label such things.