The knowledge of good and evil, id est, morality, is the knowledge of cooperation, since that is a force multiplier against the elements (and parasites, predators, famine and germs).

The notion of women as equals that deserve opt-in consent is very new in western society, and neither the Hebrews nor the Hellenic nor Roman cultures acknowleged their autonomy, hence a woman’s virtue was protected either by her husband or male relatives.

As for rationalizing behavior, these days we leave teens to their own devices, but scorn young women for their sexual activity, and don’t address sexual frustration of young men at all (which informs the rise of the alt-right and rampage killings in the United States), in fact the war boys our school districts churn out are the base of today’s Republican party.

So we humans have the capacity to be rational, but it is very limited, serving to intervene regarding the threat of nuclear holocaust, but not to interfere with the threat of global ecology collapse. We can more easily visualize and accept the end of society than the end of capitalism, of transactional culture and dominance hierarchy.