CATCHING a herring or mackerel, a dolphin will gleefully toss it in the air, allowing others to share in the excitement. Many will enthusiastically swim up to the catch, yet none will steal it. The fish belongs to the finder.
Can the dolphins’ behaviour be considered moral? Dale Peterson believes so, and argues that moral behaviour in domains ranging from sex to violence can be found in creatures from chimpanzees to mice. Peterson’s claim that morality is “a gift of biological evolution” – rather than an act of God or a creation of Homo sapiens – is persuasive, if not especially original.…
