So many posts, so little time. I had been intending to reply to
Rick Froman's interesting post but ran out of time. Here's a
response to its essential element (I think).
On Thu, 3 May 2001, Rick Froman wrote:
>
> However, saying that what a person PERCEIVES as moral differs from person to
> person is not the same as saying what IS moral differs from person to
> person. Bringing this back out of the realm of postmodern relativism,
> Kohlberg's solution to this problem, as I understand it, was to say that
> anyone, reasoning correctly would eventually come to the same conclusion
> about what is right and wrong (thus it is universal not because everyone
> believes it but because it can be logically derived as a principle on which
> the universe operates.) This puts it in the class of things like gravity.
No it doesn't. Gravity can't be derived from logic. It's a
generalization from empirical data, and its value depends on its
ability to make powerful predictions, which we can verify. If
balls flew up instead of down, if the space station failed to
stay in orbit, or if the tides refused to obey the pull of the
moon, we would chuck the concept in an eyeblink. The concept of
gravity is testable, and can be disproven.
But there's no scientific test for morality. Neither, contrary to
what you claim for Kohlberg, can it be derived from logic.
Morality is a set of beliefs about how people should behave.
Different groups have different beliefs. They all believe them to
be the only valid ones. We _know_ that the Taliban are evil
because they oppress women and stone them to death, cut the hands
off thieves, and destroy cultural treasures. But the Taliban
equally know that _their_ morality is right, and they know they
are responding in accordance with the highest religious and moral
precepts. They know that _we're_ evil. Unfortunately, unlike
science, there is no test and no logical argument which will tell
us which morality is the true one.
Postmodernism is a bad idea for science. But for morality, it's
an accurate description.
A speculation: cultural beliefs must persist because they promote
the survival of the group that believes them. Beliefs harmful to
the group will lead instead to its extinction (e.g. the Shakers'
belief in celibacy; Heaven's Gate followers' belief in suicide).
So rather than evil, as the Lucifer Principle apparently claims,
it may be belief in a particular morality that has survival
value.
Mammy Yokum (remember her?) said good is better than evil because
it's nicer. But good (or believing that it is good to act in a
particular way) may also be better than evil because it promotes
survival.
-Stephen
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Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
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