Hi Jonathan, David L., Dan and Group:
Like David, Dan and others, I join Jonathan in seeing the morality
topic as something terribly difficult and hope we can work together
to, as Jonathan put it, “make some real progress” towards
illuminating it.
I see the overall questions as still being, “Does the MOQ provide us
with a useful moral compass? If so, how can it help us decide
moral/ethical issues?”
Of course, nearly all the posts on this site touch on these
questions to one degree or another. But few that I recall tackle a
moral issue head on and use the MOQ to solve it. In fact, the only
one I can remember was posted by Bo a long time ago on the
subject of eugenics, although there may be others I’ve missed.
(There was a long debate about the wisdom of dropping the atom
bomb to end WWII, but nothing resolved in MOQ terms.) In any
event, it seems we’re still far from agreeing on what the MOQ offers
in the way of a method for solving real-life moral problems like the
one David L. described in response to Jonathan’s assertion that
“Saving life is good.”
“What if administering the drugs (chemo for cancer) decreases the
quality of the person’s life even though they extend the length of
that life? (Similar to being put on life support, we’ve saved the “life”
but is it moral?)”
I think for us to get anywhere in this terribly difficult area we must,
as Jonathan suggests, agree on a “satisfactory definition of what
morality actually is.” If we can’t all begin with a common
understanding of what we’re talking about, I see little hope we’ll
accomplish much. I know this sounds terribly simplistic, but as
someone said in stating the obvious, the longest journey begins
with the first step.
So here’s my offering for the beginning axiom of morality (an axiom
being a seminal concept that itself cannot be proven but which
claims its validity in that it must be used in the attempt to deny it):
The axiom is:
“Some things are better than others.”
I think this is also Pirsig’s beginning axiom. In Lila, Chapter 12 he
writes:
“When inorganic patterns of reality create life the Metaphysics of
Quality postulates that they’ve done so because it’s “better” and
that this definition of “betterness,” this beginning response to
Dynamic Quality, is an elementary unit of ethics upon which all
right and wrong can be based.”
David L. put it another way.
“Whatever I do in my life, I do it because in my view (based on my
understanding of the circumstances) it has the highest
reward/lowest cost ratio. Is that not moral?”
If we accept the axiom that some things are better than others
(whether measured in terms of cost/benefit or otherwise) and that
this is what morality means, the next question is, “Better for whom
or what? Better for me? For you? For society? For all of life? For
the universe? This is where, as Pirsig says, all moral problems
arise, and boy do they get complicated. Dan made the point when
he quoted Pirsig:
“Morality is not a simple set of rules. It’s a very complex struggle
of conflicting patterns of values.”
If the MOQ is to be of any help at all in dealing with moral
questions, it has got to help answer “Better for whom or what under
what circumstances?” The general thesis of the MOQ is that, all
other things being equal, freedom (change) is better than order
(stability) (Dynamic vs. Static), and that biological patterns are
better than inorganic, social patterns better than biological, and
intellectual patterns better than social. How far does this get us? If
all of our discussions in the past are any indication, not very.
I agree with Jonathan’s advice that “we have to proceed very
carefully from the ground up, and not assume that Lila has all the
answers.”
So I stand on the beginning ground of the axiom, “Some things are
better than others” and say that from this ground, all moral
problems and ultimately their solutions arise. Does anyone agree?
Can we all accept that as a basic starting point for discussions
about morality?
Platt
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