Moral Dilemmas and Moral Ambiguity
Jul 19, 2005It would be nice if we always knew the morally right thing to do, if our choices and commitments were painted in stark black and white.
Where does morality originate from?Kevin Simlertackles this question onribbonfarm把道德比作一座斜塔,随着楼层的增加,美德也随之增加。Simler质疑这座塔是如何支撑的,尤其是考虑到自我牺牲的利他行为,这是一种从塔的顶端开始的行为。他认为,也许道德作为达尔文的生存机制对个体有益。
However, this theory comes with a couple bitter pills to swallow, including the idea that even those acts we consider morally good are motivated by self-interest. Simler then explores group selection, which looks at survival of the group, rather than of the individual. Yet this theory also leads to a troubling conclusion in the majority of cases: morally bad people will out-compete and out-survive morally good people.
那么我们认为道德的起源是什么呢?
Read the article here:https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2017/11/28/the-leaning-tower-of-morality/#more-6149
It would be nice if we always knew the morally right thing to do, if our choices and commitments were painted in stark black and white.
无神论者不相信上帝——这是否意味着他们觉得生活没有意义?无神论者注定是牢骚满腹的虚无主义者,只在批评有神论者中寻找意义吗?
School teachers, preachers, parents, and even a few philosophers often claim to be authorities on the dictates of morality. But where does morality really come from?
We all want to lead a moral life. But even if we all agreed on what that would mean, we still have to balance our own self-interest with the competing demands of morality.
It would be nice if we always knew the morally right thing to do, if our choices and commitments were painted in stark black and white.
无神论者不相信上帝——这是否意味着他们觉得生活没有意义?无神论者注定是牢骚满腹的虚无主义者,只在批评有神论者中寻找意义吗?
School teachers, preachers, parents, and even a few philosophers often claim to be authorities on the dictates of morality. But where does morality really come from?
We all want to lead a moral life. But even if we all agreed on what that would mean, we still have to balance our own self-interest with the competing demands of morality.
Comments(1)
Harold G. Neuman
Friday, January 26, 2018 -- 9:01 AM
I wrote something recently,I wrote something recently, related at least partially to this topic. My essay included a discussion of ethics, morality, competition and conflict, wherein I tied these to one another, as integral parts of the 'human condition'. Morality comes from a general desire to control man's baser drives, and in response to his more-or-less universal gravitation towards pleasure and aversion to pain. It was, doubtless, floating around long before there was anything resembling a belief in 'voices, oracles, gods (and hallucinations)' [see: Julian Jaynes' THE ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE BREAKDOWN OF THE BICAMERAL MIND] This era/epoch was, in its turn, long before god with a capital G appeared on the scene. Religion, when duly organized, was intended to further distill and refine this control mechanism...like good Scotch or Bourbon. Sadly (or perhaps, naturally) there would always be those who would thumb their noses and stray from the fold. 'Morally bad people' have not yet absconded with the totality of the world. Could they? It has not happened yet, so I'm not worried. The notion that bad people will prevail, to the complete detriment and destruction of the good, while not impossible, is a stretch. If laws fail us, we can always strengthen them or enact better ones. This is what we do.