by Edward O. Wilson

About the author: Scientist and author Edward O. Wilson is the Pellegrino University Research Professor at Harvard University, as well as Honorary Curator in Entomology for Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology. His books include The Diversity of Life, On Human Nature, and Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, from which the following viewpoint is adapted.

Centuries of debate on the origin of ethics come down to this: Either ethical principles, such as justice and human rights, are independent of human experience, or they are human inventions. The distinction is more than an exercise for academic philosophers. The choice between these two understandings makes all the difference in the way we view ourselves as a species. It measures the authority of religion, and it determines the conduct of moral reasoning.

Competing Assumptions