Some ppl claim morality derives from evolution. That being the case, how do you rationalise the difference between e.g. ISIS and the USA?
-
-
And it's a particular kind of culture. The part that comes from reason.
-
Not sure what you mean. We apply reasoning to different premises & they vary by cultural customs and narratives.
-
Well, part of culture is just fashion essentially. Different customs and so on. But another part is knowledge.
-
Things we've discovered through reason and experiment. And it's this part of culture which allows us to make moral progress.
-
That would be ideal, yes, but that only drives culture if respect for reason and experiment does.
-
Well exactly, and you can see the moral difference in cultures which value reason over those that don't.
-
Ah, that's what you meant. Yes, that does make a big difference. But there's always only so much culture you can build around knowing things
-
Much of our culture is built around knowing things! That's what makes it good.
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
Really interesting experiment done with the African Tiv telling them the story of Hamlet & asking for moral analysis.
-
An anthropologist did it first & concluded morality to be socially constructed coz differences. Then an evo psych went over it.
-
Showed that basic moral emotions the same - duty, loyalty, justice, honour, bravery etc. Differences were in how these shld be carried out.
-
eg Christian society torn on wanting Hamlet to kill his uncle but troubled that he planned to do it before he'd had time to pray & repent.
-
Tiv felt uncle needed to be killed but not by Hamlet coz killing older male family member dishonourable. Someone else's job.
-
But both understood the need to punish him & felt sympathy for Hamlet mixed with impatience at his inconsistency. Not a good leader.
-
'Hamlet - not a good leader'.
-
Yep, pretty much!
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
I'd argue that this premise is faulty. The evolutionary origin of moral systems cannot be refuted by observing that they come in many forms.
-
That's what I'm saying. Don't think Christian disagrees either.
-
wanna bet?
-
Oh god! I thought you did say that the moral intuitions were evolved but then built on differently.pic.twitter.com/sx04VXlk2n
-
Well, our basic moral intuitions are from evolution. But I don't think they're sufficient to explain morality itself.
-
Having evolved core moral intuitions & then built on them in accordance with how we understood the world isn't enough?
-
No, cos it doesn't explain why ISIS is any worse than e.g. Switzerland when both people have the same biological moral equipment.
-
Well, that will be the culture bit. Not killing people horribly for not sharing your values is quite a new development.
- 9 more replies
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.