According to Anthony Walsh, our sense of moral outrage and emotional need for justice developed through which process?

According to Anthony Walsh, our sense of moral outrage and emotional need for justice developed through which process?

• A. Divine Intervention
• B. Philosophical Argument
• C. Government and Laws
• D. Evolution

Answer: (D)

Moral outrage and the emotional need for justice are explained as evolutionary adaptations that arose to help early human groups survive. Anthony Walsh argues these social emotions—anger at wrongdoing, indignation, a felt urge to punish violators—weren’t just personal preferences but fitness-enhancing traits shaped by natural selection. In ancestral environments, groups that could sanction cheaters and discourage antisocial behavior tended to function more cohesively, deter freeloading, and protect members. Individuals who were attuned to moral violations and willing to bear some personal cost to punish or deter such behavior contributed to the group’s success, so these tendencies became more common over generations. Over time, they become ingrained in human psychology, manifesting as the sense of moral outrage and a drive for justice we recognize today. Divine intervention posits a supernatural origin, which is not the naturalistic explanation Walsh emphasizes. Philosophical argument explains justice through reasoned discourse rather than the evolved emotional tendencies that motivate punitive feelings. Government and laws are social structures that regulate behavior after these moral emotions have already formed; they shape how justice is administered, not how the feelings themselves developed.

Moral outrage and the emotional need for justice are explained as evolutionary adaptations that arose to help early human groups survive. Anthony Walsh argues these social emotions—anger at wrongdoing, indignation, a felt urge to punish violators—weren’t just personal preferences but fitness-enhancing traits shaped by natural selection. In ancestral environments, groups that could sanction cheaters and discourage antisocial behavior tended to function more cohesively, deter freeloading, and protect members. Individuals who were attuned to moral violations and willing to bear some personal cost to punish or deter such behavior contributed to the group’s success, so these tendencies became more common over generations. Over time, they become ingrained in human psychology, manifesting as the sense of moral outrage and a drive for justice we recognize today.

Divine intervention posits a supernatural origin, which is not the naturalistic explanation Walsh emphasizes. Philosophical argument explains justice through reasoned discourse rather than the evolved emotional tendencies that motivate punitive feelings. Government and laws are social structures that regulate behavior after these moral emotions have already formed; they shape how justice is administered, not how the feelings themselves developed.