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The author seams to have overlooked some parts of the original article in his “review”

Like this for example:

“The question then becomes: What shapes moral emotions in the first place? The answer has long been evolution, but in recent years there’s an increasing appreciation that evolution isn’t just about competition. It’s also about cooperation within groups. Like bees, humans have long lived or died based on their ability to divide labor, help each other and stand together in the face of common threats. Many of our moral emotions and intuitions reflect that history. We don’t just care about our individual rights, or even the rights of other individuals. We also care about loyalty, respect, traditions, religions. We are all the descendents of successful cooperators.”

The author failed to mention that article states, “ in recent years there’s an increasing appreciation that evolution isn’t just about competition. It’s also about cooperation within groups.”

That statement nullifies the rest of the arguments the author brings up.

Here is a link to the full article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/opinion/07Brooks.html?_r=1

The rest of his review is full of out of context quotes, and incorrect assumptions regarding evolution.