To believe you can somehow make the world objectively better, even in a small way, you must still believe in some sort of objective good or evil. My position is the sacrilegious idea that there is no objective good or evil—that the universe is stuff bouncing and jumping around in accordance with the laws of nature. Crazy, I know.
There is a difference between the universe itself and our interpretations of the universe. A moral is a judgement about the universe mistaken for an inherent property of the universe.
In order to establish that something is better than or superior to something else, we must have some criteria to compare them by. The problem with objective good and evil, if you believe they exist, is that there is no way to establish the correct criteria.
A lion’s inclination to kill antelope isn’t inherently wrong. The inclination is simply the lion’s individual nature. Because you care about the antelope’s suffering doesn’t mean the lion should. The lion isn’t wrong if it doesn’t care.
We are all individuals with different wants and desires. To believe there is a one-size-fits-all moral code that all living creatures should follow is lunacy.
My position is the sacrilegious idea that there is no objective good or evil—that the universe is stuff bouncing and jumping around in accordance with the laws of nature. Crazy, I know.
That is a position shared by 13% of LW survey respondents.
Some required reading.
I agree that religion isn’t the source of morality. In my experience, atheists believe in good and evil just as much as religious people do.
To believe you can somehow make the world objectively better, even in a small way, you must still believe in some sort of objective good or evil. My position is the sacrilegious idea that there is no objective good or evil—that the universe is stuff bouncing and jumping around in accordance with the laws of nature. Crazy, I know.
There is a difference between the universe itself and our interpretations of the universe. A moral is a judgement about the universe mistaken for an inherent property of the universe.
In order to establish that something is better than or superior to something else, we must have some criteria to compare them by. The problem with objective good and evil, if you believe they exist, is that there is no way to establish the correct criteria.
A lion’s inclination to kill antelope isn’t inherently wrong. The inclination is simply the lion’s individual nature. Because you care about the antelope’s suffering doesn’t mean the lion should. The lion isn’t wrong if it doesn’t care.
We are all individuals with different wants and desires. To believe there is a one-size-fits-all moral code that all living creatures should follow is lunacy.
That is a position shared by 13% of LW survey respondents.
Ah, then you want the metaethics sequence. Is morality preference?