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originally posted in:Spread the Word
3/10/2014 9:43:37 PM
34
Can science answer moral questions?
[quote]Questions of good and evil, right and wrong are commonly thought unanswerable by science. But Sam Harris argues that science can — and should — be an authority on moral issues, shaping human values and setting out what constitutes a good life.[/quote]
Just a heads up - I haven't watched the video before posting this, so I have no idea regarding its quality. But considering the fact that I advocate making ethics virtually synonymous with logic, I'll cast my vote for yes.
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1 ReplyTo claim that our morality can be explained by science is one thing, but you can't then claim that things that correspond with that are 'empirically moral' the way science is usually used to claim empirical facts. It is not an empirical fact that suffering is wrong; it might be a scientifically justifiable opinion, but it is still an opinion because the word 'wrong' and the meaning that goes with it do not exist outside of human society. Is it 'wrong' when Poison Ivy gives my dog a rash? Of course not, that's a ridiculous stamement, but neither is it 'right' and that's because morality doesn't apply in that situation. You can only use concepts of morality with human interactions; when we are doing things that affect something else, and if science is to be used as a way of 'objectifying' morality, this needs to be recognised.
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13 RepliesScience inherently has no morals. If we based all of our morals on science, terrible human experiments would be much more prevalent than they are today and animal testing would be next to nonexistent because of possible inaccuracies. I know it will make some people ass hurt for me to say this, but morals absolutely come from nature and we are all born with God-given rights that no man can take away, lest he asserts his own ambitions over us.
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20 Replies[i]Can[/i] science answer moral questions? I would say yes. Can it answer [i]all[/i] of them? No. [i]Should[/i] it? Certainly not by itself.
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1 ReplyScience is about what is and what isn't. Can and Can't. Should and shouldn't doesn't enter into the equation. - Der
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5 RepliesScience is rational. Morals are emotional. The field of psychology may be an exception though.
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1 ReplyThe n@z1s were doing a great thing, scientifically speaking.
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Edited by TechnoKat: 3/11/2014 3:01:51 AMEdit: I think I may have misunderstood the question... I didn't quiet understand how exactly science was answering these questions however... I watched it through and through but i felt like all I heard was common sense. Basic human ethics. If that is science answering Moral Questions, if it's just ethics, then don't we already do this on a daily basis...?
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You dropped this on your way here.
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I didnt fully understand what he was getting at. All I understood was that at some point our progress in science will be able to shed light on moral stances. The issue I have is that it doesn't answer moral questions that we ourselves havent come to the conclusion of already. I probably dont understand what the question is.
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Where's the "Sometimes" option?
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5 RepliesScience cannot prove everything
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Ask me any moral question you want to then.
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Science answers everything.
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2 RepliesEdited by SexyPiranha: 3/11/2014 12:55:13 AMI wonder if anyone has actually watched the video. Far as I can tell no one is actually arguing against the concept presented. Seems they're all content to burn their hastily constructed strawmen and blurt tangentially related bullcrap(looking at you Cowpie). A shame, because I would like to see a productive discussion about it.
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3 RepliesYOUR SCIENCE GOES AGAINST GOD FAR TOO OFTEN. NOT MEANING TO START A FLAMEWAR
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*tips fedora
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If it's for science, sure.
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6 RepliesMy first thought as a second year philosophy student at university: Hell no. Will watch video in my spare time and see his arguments, I guess.
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12 RepliesAccording to an interview by Richard Dawkins, he said that science can't and shouldn't attempt to answer moral questions. If it can how would science attempt to answer them?
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2 RepliesI feel like this is a moot question. Science doesn't give answers; science is a process by which things are examined and answers are arrived at. Science is how you collect, observe, communicate, and quantify data. What you're asking is synonymous to "Can driving be a movie theater?" No. Driving can be a method by which you get [i]to[/i] the movie theater but it isn't of the same type of object.
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No, science is just a tool we use to figure out how the physical universe works.
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Nop nop nop.
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1 Reply[b] [/b]
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Totally. You can base your morality on pain, which is inherently scientific.
