The Evolution of Moral Value: From Self-Maintaining Systems to Symbolic Rights

The Evolution of Moral Value: From Self-Maintaining Systems to Symbolic Rights develops Evolutionary Value Theory (EVT), an interdisciplinary framework examining how biological regulation, conscious experience, social recognition, moral claims, and institutional rights may be connected. Drawing on evolutionary biology, neuroscience, cognitive science, moral philosophy, jurisprudence, and political theory, the book distinguishes biological interests from experienced welfare, interests from justified claims, and moral justification from legal recognition and practical protection. It investigates how the recognition of another being's welfare can contribute to moral relationships without assuming that evolutionary explanations alone establish moral obligations. The manuscript also examines the emergence of cooperation, empathy, cruelty, and other-valuing; the philosophical and scientific problems of consciousness; the distinction between genuinely caring and merely helpful behavior in artificial systems; and the role of symbolic institutions in recognizing and securing rights. EVT is presented as an explanatory synthesis and a framework for further criticism and testing, rather than a completed scientific demonstration. Its central objective is to clarify the transitions between what matters biologically, what matters to an experiencing subject, what can justify moral claims, and what institutions must do to make rights effective. Version 1.0 — First edition, October 2026. Independent scholarly monograph. Copyright © 2026 John C. Matylonek. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.