Cooperate with people who cooperate

Cooperation is the universal function around which morals culturally evolve https://t.co/9lBdDd9O6l@tvolmag @EvoInstitute @Oliver_S_Curry @David_S_Wilson pic.twitter.com/7WqmW93SQs

— Sage Gibbons (@Sage_Gibbons) January 26, 2020

There seems to be Kantian maxim lurking here: "Cooperate with people who cooperate".

There is a recursive whiff to that, and that's one of the keys to human interaction. Actually, a more precise formulation of this "cooperative principle" (pace Grice) is even more recursive:

"Cooperate with people 

who cooperate with people 

who cooperate with you".

Because our enemies, rivals and adversaries also cooperate with one another, and that doesn't make them more morally desirable for us, or more cooperative in the right sense. That's what Kant did not get at all.

 You Kant cooperate with criminals

—oOo—