Abstract:
Every human society and almost all of human life are infused with ethics. How do we best
understand human morality and ethics? I want to argue that responsible ethics rests on a
credible understanding of what it means to be human. This article proposes that a more
comprehensive understanding of the distinctive human imagination, religious awareness and
morality – all of which are significant aspects of being human – will facilitate a more responsible
understanding and practice of ethics. Such an understanding entails a bottom-up view, which
takes seriously the exploration of the fundamental evolutionary realities of human nature, that
is, a natural history of morality. The quest for understanding the propensity for imagination,
religious awareness and morality can be aided by exploring the core role of the evolutionary
transition between becoming and being human. Accordingly, this research combines a niche
construction perspective with fossil and archaeological evidence, highlighting the role of
complexity in human evolution, which adds to our understanding of a completely human way
of being in the world. A distinctively human imagination is part of the explanation for human
evolutionary success and accordingly our sense of morality and religious disposition. The
methodology this article applies is that of an interdisciplinary approach combining perspectives
of some of the most prominent voices in the modern discourses on imagination, religious
awareness and morality. What results from this approach is, first, a more comprehensive
understanding of the human imagination, the capacity for religious awareness and morality.
Ultimately, by creatively integrating the various perspectives evident in this research – by way
of a philosophical bridge theory between evolutionary anthropology and theology – this
article attempts to determine whether evolutionary thought can be constructively appropriated
to interdisciplinary Christian theology and ethics.
Description:
Dr Serfontein is participating
in the research project,
‘Religious Experience from
an evolutionary perspective’,
directed by Prof. Dr Danie
Veldsman, Department of
Dogmatics and Christian
Ethics, Faculty of Theology
and Religion, University of
Pretoria.
This article is partially based on the author’s thesis of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Dogmatics and Christian Ethics at the
University of Pretoria, South Africa, with supervisor Prof. D.P. Veldsman. (http://hdl.handle.net/2263/71030)
