We don't, outside of an inclination against cannibalism.
Yet man seems to prefer moral explanations. Why do you suppose that is?
But if man is not spiritually different than any other animal why should this be the case? Other creatures survive without our Western Judeo-Christian, property respecting, life respecting, take-care-of-the-old-and-ill ethics. Why should we need them to survive?
We don't, outside of an inclination against cannibalism.
Yet man seems to prefer moral explanations. Why do you suppose that is?
Ethics," writes Ayn Rand, "is an objective, metaphysical necessity of man's survival"
But if man is not spiritually different than any other animal why should this be the case? Other creatures survive without our Western Judeo-Christian, property respecting, life respecting, take-care-of-the-old-and-ill ethics. Why should we need them to survive?
Ah, but Man is spiritually different than any other animal! We're the animals with the really big brains, and not much else of distinction. We're forced to use our brains, with their ability to form far-reaching abstract rational thought, to guide us in our lives. This is what makes us individuals with free will. And that is what makes morality a necessary component for any survival strategy - or certainly any thrival strategy.
Put another way: Civilization is a tool we created to help us sustain The Good Life, and morality is a tool we created to sustain civilization.
Wolves allow the alpha male and female first dibs at a kill, respecting, in a sense, their rights to that "property." Most animals will not kill their own and have a whole series of signals to keep fights from getting out of hand. Lions, wolves and the extinct saber-toothed cats take care of their wounded or ill members (skeletal remains of the latter even show healed broken bones -- wounds which would prove fatal if the animal were left on its own).