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Neo-Platonic higher/lower and Dennett's higher/lower

When discussing the origin of morality, DD mentions in passing how something analogous to morality can be found at the intra-cellular level.  This remark is almost a perfect inversion of the neo-Platonic understanding of the relationship between the higher and the lower.

Taking his cue from earlier neo-Platonists, Aquinas says that the lowest part of the higher level touches the highest part of the lower level.  For example, the lowest form of reasoning (ratiocinatio) touches upon the highest form of sentient awareness.  This happens, explains Aquinas in true neo-Platonic form, because the higher reality is the source of the lower.  That's a paradigmatic example of a top/down ontology.

DD proposes something quite different: millions of years ago, during the prokaryotic era, intra-genomic strife was resolved through behaviors that are mirrored today in morality.  For example, free-loaders were kept in check and even ostracized; others made sacrifices for the group.

More recently, analogous behaviors are found among humans: in this way, says DD, ethics parallels what has been going on much longer at the intra-genomic level.

But could there be more to it than that?  Could the so-called lower in DD's account be an exemplary cause in any sense of the word?

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