Whether a trait is natural or unnatural is irrelevant to the question of whether it’s good. Moral worth should be judged not in terms of the naturalness of a trait, but rather in terms of how that trait impacts the wellbeing of everyone affected by it. Thus, violence is natural but bad, medicine unnatural but good.

— Steve Stewart-Williams The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve (2018)

More quotes by Steve Stewart-Williams

The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve (2018)

The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve (2018)

The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve (2018)

A Billion Years of Sex Differences: How Evolution Shaped the Minds of Men and Women (2026)

Darwin, God and the Meaning of Life: How Evolutionary Theory Undermines Everything You Think You Know (2010)

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Steve Stewart-Williams (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.