The article is a polemics with conceptions of the nature of morality which, based on an inquiry into the evolutionary origins of morality, locate its meaning in a society’s cooperation (backed by rules) for the purpose of joint success. I offer several counterexamples (cases of supererogation, moral attitudes towards animals) and use them to show the significance of construing morality independently of 1) the requirement of pro-sociality and 2) the objective (external) purpose that morality is supposed to fulfil.
