Moral Sensitivity, Moral Transformation, and Evolutionary Scientist David Loye: An Introduction

This article introduces the two major themes of this issue of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies: moral sensitivity and transformation, and honoring the late evolutionary systems scientist David Loye. The article shows how these two themes are integrally interconnected. Loye introduced the term “moral sensitivity” as well as the distinction between “partnership moral sensitivity” and “dominator moral insensitivity” or “moralism,” showing how the latter has been used to push us back to “strong-man” rule, violence, and injustice. He was the first to reclaim what he called “Darwin’s lost theory” based on Charles Darwin’s long-ignored writings about human evolution, including what Darwin called “the moral sense.” Quoting from some of Loye’s more than 30 published books as well as a sampling of articles, the article highlights his gift of bringing to life the people and times he wrote about, including the men and women he called “the great scientific explorers of the better world.” Colorful examples from his many writings illustrate how Loye advanced the study of human evolution through his offerings on moral sensitivity, clarifying much that is otherwise obscured, and showing his enormous contributions to a better understanding of our past, present, and the possibilities for our future. The article provides new terms and new ideas for building a more equitable, less violent, more sustainable future through the works of a man first known for his prize-winning book on the immorality of racism, whose later works focused on how we can create a future where we not only survive, but thrive.