Objective Morality

Lately I have been thinking about a TED talk I had watched a year or two ago given by Sam Harris, so this morning I went back and watched it. In his talk Mr. Harris argues that science can help us determine what is morally or ethically sound. He uses the analogy of good health to show that science can, and has, produced results in a field which can be very nebulous.

Now before you scoff at the idea I wish to compare this to a similar occurrence in our scientific journey: the origins of both the universe and life. For the majority of our species history every culture had its own origin story. There are some parallels between many of these stories, but each had its own twist and everyone thought they were right. I’m sure each culture was aware that others had different stories but they assumed they had the right of it and thought nothing more. Then, during the Renaissance, people began observing our world looking for clues. Thanks to individuals like Darwin we now have a good idea of where we came from and while there are many questions left unanswered we are moving in the right direction. I see no reason that, as we advance the fields of psychology and neuroscience, that we may not eventually tell a similar story with our ethics.

Here is the video:

Imagine that world. Imagine making your decisions having some measure of what good and harm it will do. To not have to use your instinct to decide if that lie is truly white. A measure that would help determine if a war is justified or merely a money grab. The benefits would be enormous. We, as a species, could finally agree on what is right and wrong.

There is a danger in this as well; for not everyone enjoys being told that what they ‘know’ to be true is actually wrong. This is demonstrated by the creationists who still exist, happy in their ignorance of known facts. The risk that such individuals would exist in the moral sphere is great as it is an aspect of oneself that many hold onto tightly. Imagine being told that one’s freedom is not as valuable as social order, being presented with facts that demonstrate this and a meaningful objective way. Would you be quick to give up such a dearly held value? While my gut tells me that this would not happen to a value such as freedom, the risk for controversy in the transition is still great. I, nonetheless, think this is a worthy venture and look forward to seeing what may come.