(September 4, 2012 at 9:30 pm)MysticKnight Wrote: Somethings to consider:
7) You can prove scientifically doing certain actions make us happier, make us feel good, helps our survival as a species, is shared by other animals etc, but you cannot prove objective morals/ethics from science.
It is a bit of a stretch to suppose that what is moral will always be that which will make us happier, make us feel better or be best for our species as a whole over time.
I think we may be trying to stretch morality further than it is fit to go. Perhaps natural morality is really just a proclivity we have as a species toward some pro-social behaviors. These tendencies may fostered by something in our DNA or by cultures or perhaps both are required. It is easy to see the evolutionary advantage of the morality phenomenon. It has gotten us to where we are and perhaps provides some of the glue that permits us to live together amicably in large numbers in close proximity to one another. But why would we think there is anything objective about this?
Put another way, even if there is something objective in natural morality which we could distill .. does it follow that we should all embrace it and try our very best to embody it? This might appeal to some but it certainly doesn't appeal everyone (myself included).
Moral goodness for its own sake certainly seems like a form of self-obsessed vanity to me. Why should it matter if we always act in the morally best way possible in every circumstance? So long as we act within an acceptable range of non-harmful behavior .. screw it, I say. Send your mum a card on her birthday or don't. I don't care. Don't feel like smiling today? Your call, authentic isn't such a bad alternative.
Lets not worry morality to death, okay? Objective? Maybe to some incomplete degree but who really cares? I applaud people who are caring, kind and generous but I don't expect anyone to be so at every moment of their lives. I also applaud people for being authentic and daring to be fully human while all around them others are striving to make the sainthood olympics.