tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1825848138020155466.comments2023-06-11T05:53:13.818-07:00iHumanitarianMarc Hauserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04100754000049809679noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1825848138020155466.post-43421815933294566562010-10-15T03:20:31.365-07:002010-10-15T03:20:31.365-07:00Collins,
very interesting. i had no idea that su...Collins, <br />very interesting. i had no idea that such developments were not only on the horizon, but actually being implemented. As in all of these matters, it will be of interest to see how things settle in terms of financial gains and health costs.<br />-marcMarc Hauserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04100754000049809679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1825848138020155466.post-2593565841088932742010-09-23T03:46:13.920-07:002010-09-23T03:46:13.920-07:00Moral education is essential to expand the moral c...Moral education is essential to expand the moral circle genetically endowed in our species. However, this does assume that the moral principles that ought to be taught can be formulated (or, as I should argue, discovered). The religious could argue that any moral system devised for education--except that divined from (their) religion--would be arbitrary and relativistic. I dissent. By virtue of evolution, our species is endowed not only with a moral sense, but with faculties of reason with which we can appreciate the limitations of our moral grammar and propound philosophies grounded IN LOGIC that transcend (i.e., expand) it. Moral systems can be adjudged, expounded, and decided upon in accordance with logic; moral axioms so defined are, to my knowledge, culturally universal (whether formulated as the golden rule, the categorical imperative, the veil of ignorance, etc.) because the axioms of logic are universal (as mathematical laws of nature). (Consider a trivial instance: it is logically inconsistent, and socially untenable, for me to insist that you respect my interests if I do not respect your interests; logically, there is no argument I can proffer to defend the inconsistency.) Nothing could be less arbitrary or relativistic. Indeed, were we to discover a Martian civilization (with beings as intelligent and social as humans), I should predict that they would have converged upon the logical axioms of morality as surely as they converged on the logical axioms of arithmetic. And because these moral principles are not arbitrary or relativistic, but are deduced by reason from the primitives of the moral sense, they--like us--would deem totalitarianism--the denial of the creative capacity whereby morality is expanded and expressed--the ultimate evil. (Indeed, even we, the nonreligious, ought not to recoil from the vocabulary of moral absolutism--"good" and "evil"--if there are true (universal) principles of morality that cannot be comprised without compromising the "better angels" of our human capacity.)Jeffrey Watumullhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12132739985772197183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1825848138020155466.post-72593751510397907292010-09-20T18:07:36.525-07:002010-09-20T18:07:36.525-07:00Agreed! psychologists and economists have already...Agreed! psychologists and economists have already contributed much to the understanding how we dehumanize others, conform to authority, harbor unconscious prejudices and stereotypes, act on short terms gains without waiting for longer term benefits, and seek revenge even when it fails to make us feel better... to name a few. And now, the brain sciences and genetics are beginning to uncover which brain areas are critical to normal functioning, and the kinds of genetic biases that either inoculate us against certain harms or make us more prone. These findings need to be digested by those in the humanitarian area in order to engage in a productive dialog...Marc Hauserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04100754000049809679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1825848138020155466.post-87100800180940341112010-09-15T13:26:56.935-07:002010-09-15T13:26:56.935-07:00Welcome to the blogosphere!
Exploring humanitari...Welcome to the blogosphere! <br /><br />Exploring humanitarian efforts through the lens of mind studies is fascinating, but could also be practically fruitful for defining problems, finding optimal solutions and in the end getting more out of less.<br /><br />Here's to many conversations!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07354930463458937857noreply@blogger.com