Philosopher Drs. Ronald Hünneman will give a lecture on Tuesday 27 September at Philosophical Café Hoogeveen entitled ‘An insatiable need for sympathy’.
In his writings on evolution, Charles Darwin attempts to answer a question posed by the philosopher Thomas Hobbes two centuries earlier: In nature, life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short,” a struggle of all against all. . So why should people behave properly? Why don’t they behave like beasts? Darwin’s answer to this question was surprisingly elegant: People do not behave ethically because they are empathetic (as Frans de Waal argues), sympathetic, emotionally intelligent or wise. No, people behave ethically because they want to be liked by others. In doing so, Darwin showed that ethical and unethical behavior have the same origin, namely the social context in which people find themselves.
In this lecture, Darwin’s theory will be discussed in more detail and the consequences that his theory has for the way in which social and ethical issues should be investigated.
The lecture will be held in the Hoogeveen Library (Willemskade 27) and will start at 7:30 PM. There is an entrance fee.