Collective intentionality: A basic and early component of moral evolution

ABSTRACT

Michael Tomasello’s account of moral evolution includes both a synthesis of extensive experimental work done on humans and chimpanzees on their potential for perspective-taking and helpful, altruistic generosity and a major emphasis on “collective intentionality” as an important component of morality in humans. Both will be very useful to the evolutionary study of this subject. However, his disavowal of collective intentions on the parts of chimpanzees would appear to be empirically incorrect, owing to reliance on experimental captive research focused only on dyadic interactions. Here, evidence to the contrary is provided from studies of wild chimpanzees as they naturally cooperate in sizable groups. Collective intentions are inferable when they go on patrol, when they mob predators, when they go hunting, and when large coalitions gang-attack disliked members of the same community. This last behavior has particularly significant pre-adaptive implications for the evolution of moralistic social control, and it suggests that moral evolution has deep roots, going back to the Last Common Ancestor of humans, bonobos, and chimpanzees.

KEYWORDS:

• Chimpanzee attacks
• coalitions
• collective intentions
• cooperation
• moral evolution
• problem solving
• punishment
• social sanctions
• social selection

Acknowledgments

I thank Stephanie Bogart, Brian Hare, Carel van Schaik, David Sloan Wilson, Michael Wilson, and Richard Wrangham for useful comments and other assistance. I also thank Neil Roughley for organizing the meeting and for editorial assistance. The paper is based on research funded by H. F. Guggenheim Foundation, the Templeton Foundation, and the Goodall Research Center at University of Southern California, and the support is gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

The paper is based on research funded by H.F. Guggenheim Foundation, the Templeton Foundation, and the Goodall Research Center at University of Southern California, and the support is gratefully acknowledged.

Notes on contributors

Christopher Boehm

Christopher Boehm is Professor of Biological Sciences and Anthropology and Director of the Goodall Research Center at University of Southern California. He has been a recipient of a Simon Guggenheim fellowship and a fellowship at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe. His fieldwork includes Navajo Indians, tribal Serbs in Montenegro, and wild chimpanzees at Gombe National Park. His interests include conflict resolution in humans and chimpanzees, and moral evolution.