The book by the famous American scientist Mark Hauser argues that people have an innate moral instinct that operates regardless of their gender, education and religion. Thanks to this instinct, they can quickly and unconsciously make judgments about good and evil. Proving this idea, the author draws on numerous materials from philosophy, linguistics, psychology, economics, social anthropology and primatology, gives a detailed explanation of the nature of human morality, its unity and sources of variability, and traces the paths of its development and possible evolution. The book had a great scientific and public resonance in the USA and other countries. Translation from English by T. M. Maryutina Scientific translation editor Yu. I. Aleksandrov