The Good Samaritan and His Genes
—Biology & Morality, Calvin College,
Grand Rapids MI 2002

"The Good Samaritan and his Genes." 2002. Audio CD. 1 hour, 12 mins. Holmes Rolston lecture at a conference on Biology and Morality, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Audio with frequent accompanying slides. November 9, 2002. 58 minutes, 58 seconds. Online at: https://hdl.handle.net/10217/234763

The Good Samaritan helping non-genetically related other does not fit well into a Darwinian framework. The Good Samaritan--some biologists claim--is constitutionally (=genetically) unable to act for the victim's sake. There must be a self-interested account; the Samaritan, deceived about his motives, is rewarded with reproductively profitable reputation. But such behavior, praised and imitated, jumps genetic lines and there is no differential survival advantage.

Published as: "The Good Samaritan and His Genes," pages 238-252 in Philip Clayton and Jeffrey Schloss, eds., Evolution and Ethics: Human Morality in Biological and Religious Perspective. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2004. Online at: http://hdl.handle.net/10217/37322