What props up morality?

Is morality like a leaning tower, with virtue increasing as the floors increase? If so, how would the tower be supported, especially considering self-sacrficing altruistic behavior, a type of behavior at the very top?

Where does morality originate from? Kevin Simler tackles this question on ribbonfarm by comparing morality to a leaning tower, with virtue increasing as the floors increase. Simler questions how the tower remains supported, especially considering self-sacrficing altruistic behavior, a type of behavior from the very top of the tower. Perhaps, he suggest, morality benefits the individual as a Darwinian mechanism in survival.

However, this theory comes with a couple bitter pills to swallow, including the idea that even those acts we consider morally good are motivated by self-interest. Simler then explores group selection, which looks at survival of the group, rather than of the individual. Yet this theory also leads to a troubling conclusion in the majority of cases: morally bad people will out-compete and out-survive morally good people.

So which origin of morality do we root for?

Read the article here: https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2017/11/28/the-leaning-tower-of-morality/#more-6149