24

This paper examines the development of Darwin’s reflections on morality, from his Notebooks (1836-1844) through The Descent of Man (1871). Far from being a late epiphenomenon, Darwin’s naturalist approach to ethics was largely in place by 1840 : it explains the convergence between moral sense (James Mackintosh) and a retrospective utility criterion (William Paley revised). Darwin’s later work clarifies the relation between instincts and hereditary moral habits, while underlining the central role of sympathy in the origin and evolution of moral sense.