For Edward O. Wilson, as for Herbert Spencer and Julian Huxley before him, Darwinism is a substitute for Christianity: a secular religion for a new age. By now you should realize that you do not have to read Darwinism in this way – most professional evolutionists today cringe rather at this kind of activity – and that, even if you do, you are probably singing the same good old songs that have sustained Christians down through the ages. Indeed, you probably first learnt the songs at Sunday school in your childhood! No one could doubt the authenticity of Wilson's deeply religious nature or the power of his burning moral vision, but his arguments purportedly showing Darwinism and Christianity to be mutually exclusive are simply not well taken. Indeed, if you insist on making a religion of your science, then your best strategy might be to join forces with Christianity rather than trying to set up your own church.

Is this then the end of matters? If you would prefer not to make a religion of your science, has Darwinism nothing more to say? Can modern evolutionary theory tell us nothing about morality, at either the substantive or metaethical level? A totally negative answer to these questions would be surprising, if only because the past thirty years have seen major advances in the Darwinian understanding of the evolution of social behaviour.