Agreed that individual humans have differing values. However I believe there’s more to say about human universal values than “we’re competing with one another”. Here are two pieces of evidence:
(1) Almost all human cultures have what we recognize as art. So far as I know, chimpanzee cultures do not. (Although a quick google search tells me that chimps who live in human cultures do create art.) So art, broadly defined, is universal; but individual humans have more specific tastes. I expect humans and chimpanzees have senses of justice (differing from individual to individual).
(2) Individuals can change their values through moral arguments and education. If I try, through moral argument, to convince someone of my idea of justice, it’s because I feel that my idea of justice has at least a somewhat universal appeal. And, with sufficient resources, you could become a musician and gain a richer appreciation of music. One could imagine an extrapolation process under which individuals’ values converge, at least some of the time.
However:
And when we remove some human values- predation, cruelty, rape, domination- from the list because their time has passed, it is not clear to me why the others remain.
I share the concern that I think you’re raising here: For all we know, moral progress might not be pointing towards any particular destination. More research needs to be done on the mechanics of morality.
And, with sufficient resources, you could become a musician and gain a richer appreciation of music.
This I’m not as sure about. I can become competent at playing an instrument and better at interpreting music, but I’m not sure I can rewrite my talents. If those are determined by a relatively inelastic part of my brain’s configuration, then it seems likely that the pathway to becoming a Beethoven simply does not exist for me.
A better example might be heroic compassion- people who put themselves at risk without thinking to save others. The consensus opinion is it’s probably at least somewhat genetic, and you either are a hero (in that narrow sense) or you aren’t. I could be roused to tears by tales of heroic compassion but not have the unthinking impulse to do it, and it’s not clear that if I don’t have it I could acquire it. There are other things that people do acquire- bodyguards learn how to operate after being shot, and soldiers learn how to stay active in combat situations- so it might be possible. But I think bounded potentials are more realistic than unbounded potentials.
Agreed that individual humans have differing values. However I believe there’s more to say about human universal values than “we’re competing with one another”. Here are two pieces of evidence:
(1) Almost all human cultures have what we recognize as art. So far as I know, chimpanzee cultures do not. (Although a quick google search tells me that chimps who live in human cultures do create art.) So art, broadly defined, is universal; but individual humans have more specific tastes. I expect humans and chimpanzees have senses of justice (differing from individual to individual).
(2) Individuals can change their values through moral arguments and education. If I try, through moral argument, to convince someone of my idea of justice, it’s because I feel that my idea of justice has at least a somewhat universal appeal. And, with sufficient resources, you could become a musician and gain a richer appreciation of music. One could imagine an extrapolation process under which individuals’ values converge, at least some of the time.
However:
I share the concern that I think you’re raising here: For all we know, moral progress might not be pointing towards any particular destination. More research needs to be done on the mechanics of morality.
Mostly agreed.
This I’m not as sure about. I can become competent at playing an instrument and better at interpreting music, but I’m not sure I can rewrite my talents. If those are determined by a relatively inelastic part of my brain’s configuration, then it seems likely that the pathway to becoming a Beethoven simply does not exist for me.
A better example might be heroic compassion- people who put themselves at risk without thinking to save others. The consensus opinion is it’s probably at least somewhat genetic, and you either are a hero (in that narrow sense) or you aren’t. I could be roused to tears by tales of heroic compassion but not have the unthinking impulse to do it, and it’s not clear that if I don’t have it I could acquire it. There are other things that people do acquire- bodyguards learn how to operate after being shot, and soldiers learn how to stay active in combat situations- so it might be possible. But I think bounded potentials are more realistic than unbounded potentials.