Telling Right from Wrong
One of the most thoughtful essays on morality that I have read in many years, by Yonatan Zunger. Clearly, a deity is absolutely not necessary; in fact, the simplistic right/wrong concepts often put forth by religions are usually grossly inadequate and simplistic.
The difficulty is that what Yonatan describes here requires far more nuance, thought, consideration, and knowledge that most people are willing to put into moral decision-making.
Originally shared by Yonatan Zunger
This is an essay I’ve wanted to write for a while. It’s an attempt to answer the question of just what we mean by “good” and “evil,” without relying on hand-waving intuitions or outside decrees. It’s part of a set of ideas that I’ve been working through gradually over the past few decades¹, of which several other recent essays of mine (like “Tolerance is not a moral precept²”) are also a part.
This does not attempt to be the be-all and end-all of morality. Rather, it’s a definition and set of caveats which I’ve found extremely useful as a framework, both for my own moral decisions, and for discussing moral questions with others. It deliberately moves questions of morality away from abstract questions (“is killing wrong?”) towards concrete ones, and in so doing, helps pull us away from distractions which often make these discussions fall apart.
For those who read my recent essay “A Chosen People³” and asked just what I meant by ideas like the predictability of the laws of nature and the existence of free will being exactly the things which allow morality to exist, this includes my answer to that, as well.
¹ Damn. I’m getting old. That statement is literally true.
² https://extranewsfeed.com/tolerance-is-not-a-moral-precept-1af7007d6376
³ https://extranewsfeed.com/a-chosen-people-3c4a1366b867
https://medium.com/@yonatanzunger/telling-right-from-wrong-96398c01a306