The question of morals

Can moral choices be made scientifically?  Is religion the only guide for morals and ethics?
An excellent thought provoking talk by Sam Harris.  Do you agree with him?
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0 Replies to “The question of morals”

  1. “Would it be a good idea to…”
    Presupposes science can define “good”. His entire argument is built on a different worldview. When Mr. Harris decries the Taliban or other ‘evil’ people, he ignores the fact the ~science~ of evolution that dictates that the genome that survives will prosper. Killing, raping and pillaging are but some of the means evolution uses to pass on genes as shown throughout the animal kingdom as well as in microbiological life.
    Simply put, Mr. Harris assumes a theistic position in order to posit moral claims for his science… bowing to the fundamentalist religion of naturalism.

  2. M,
    I think you may have missed the point of Mr Harris’ talk.
    He says that moral questions can be reduced to questions of harm, which can be further reduced to questions of fact.
    The key point to note is that all of this, including his use of the concept “good”, is done in the limited context of human experience.
    Harris makes no extrapolation to a universal “good”, and therefore science is not required to define a universal “good”.

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