Over at Bora's place he talks about a paper on group selection. In regards to the scientific idea and its broad relevance to evolutionary biology, I am mildly skeptical. That being said, this comment drew my attention:
While endorsing DS Wilson's Unto Others, Richard Lewontin mentioned an unsavory aspect of group selection (NYROB, 10/22/98): namely, war is a mechanism of the differential survival and reproduction of whole groups. Out-group aggression goes hand in hand with in-group cooperation.
It is very advisable to be mindful of the Naturalistic Fallacy when considering group selection
.
The Naturalistic Fallacy derives from G.E. Moore's examination of the assumption that what is "good" can be derivable from natural properties (e.g., physical pleasure sensation), and is often conflated with David Hume's is-ought problem, the idea that what is is what ought, to be. Regardless of which meaning the commenter had in mind, I think the point ...
