Building elements of morality are not elements of morality

Do monkeys and apes display 'elements of rudimentary moral systems'? If the se elements correspond to individual abilities, it could be misleading to l abel them moral. The prosocial abilities of non-human primates may just con stitute the foundations necessary to the emergence of morality in human bei ngs, yet their Darwinian significance should be explained on their own, wit hout reference to their possible functions in human beings. On the other ha nd, if moral elements refer to parts of moral systems, this implies the dev elopment of shared norms through cultural evolution. In this respect, the a bsence of communication about mental representations forbids the directiona l transmission of learned social rules in non-human primates.