Evolutionary Philosophy
  • Home
  • Worldview
    • Epistemology
    • Metaphysics
    • Logic
    • Ethics
    • Politics
    • Aesthetics
  • Applied
    • Know Thyself
    • 10 Tenets
    • Survival of the Fittest Philosophers >
      • Ancient Philosophy (Pre 450 CE)
      • Medieval Philosophy (450-1600 CE)
      • Modern Philosophy (1600-1920 CE)
      • Contemporary Philosophy (Post 1920 CE)
    • 100 Thought Experiments
    • Elsewhere
  • Fiction
    • Draining the Swamp >
      • Further Q&A
    • Short Stories
    • The Vitanauts
  • Blog
  • Store
  • About
    • Purpose
    • My Evolution
    • Evolution 101
    • Philosophy 101

Philosopher vs. Philosopher

7/16/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
What are you thinking about over there?
Sorry for the brief interruption to my blogging schedule (I'll still post my answer this this week's thought experiment on Friday), but I found out yesterday that a former philosophy professor reviewed my journal article on his website Reason and Meaning (which was later reprinted at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies). The review came from Dr. John Messerly who, according to his bio, "was a member of the faculty of both the philosophy and computer science departments for many years at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of books on ethical theory, evolutionary philosophy, and the meaning of life, as well as dozens of articles on philosophical and transhumanist themes. His recent work has appeared in Salon, Scientia Salon, the Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies, and Humanity+." John's short review can be seen in full here:

http://reasonandmeaning.com/2015/07/14/evolution-and-ethics/

but he and I have also had some brief email conversations since this came out. He's generally sympathetic to my point of view and agrees with much of what I have to say, but he did point out how other stubborn philosophers might be apt to object to my arguments in two specific ways. I felt I ought to address those points in a short post. So, here goes.

1) Messerly wrote:

"Philosophers would object to a number of issue in the paper, including Gibney’s basic syllogism:

p exists
p wants to continue to exist
thus p ought to act in aid its continued existence. 

First, they might object that “just because p is doesn’t mean that p ought to be.” By simply stating this, Gibney is begging the question."

I admit this is true. In my paper, I agree with this by saying nothing in this universe says we *have* to follow these imperatives, but it’s clear that we *ought* to. I suppose someone could argue, for example, that there would be a lot less suffering in the universe if life didn’t exist, so we all ought to just wink out into extinction, but if that’s the opposing argument, I’m pretty confident the jury will come down on continuing this project of life. I'll try to state this assumption more clearly in the future to make sure people know I’m making it and trying to get them to agree to it.

2) Messerly also wrote:

"Second, they might say, “if p wants to exist it should act so in ways that help it to continue to exist, but this is a survival imperative and not a moral imperative. And those aren’t the same thing.” In other words Gibney is confusing what behaviors help us survive with moral behaviors. While the two sometimes coincide, often they don’t. (Killing you quickly before you kill me might aid my survival but not be moral.) I agree that there are more to moral imperatives than survival imperatives; nonetheless survival imperatives are a prerequisite for moral imperatives. In other words, oughts that aid survival are necessary but not sufficient conditions for morality."

I don't yet believe this is true. It seems to me that moral urges are entirely about the well-being of “others”, as measured objectively by their long term survival. Emotional urges that protect the self are just considered selfish survival instincts, and it’s my contention that the identity of the “self” could be expanded out to be the protection of *my* organism / family / tribe / society / species / or ecosystem—all of which could be selfishly cared for if their protection came at the expense of life in general over evolutionary timelines. The moral emotions (for example, Haidt’s foundations of 1) Care/Harm; 2) Fairness/Cheating; 3) Liberty/Oppression; 4) Loyalty/Betrayal; 5) Authority/Subversion; 6) Sanctity/Degradation) are all felt during attempts to navigate this choice between “self” and “others”. Emotional choices that don’t deal with this issue (ice cream preference, computer operating system choice, favourite impressionist painter, etc.) fall to the realm of aesthetics rather than ethics. At least, I think so. Messerly gave the example: "Killing you quickly before you kill me might aid my survival but not be moral.”, but I don’t claim that morality depends on an individual’s survival. That moral judgement of an act is tied to wether or not it promotes "life in general over the long term." Shooting an innocent person before they are about to defend themselves is immoral, but killing Nazis quickly vs. being killed by Nazi aggressors is an easy example of when such a killing action is moral. Both of these judgements are made because of how the outcomes lead towards or away from cooperative, surviving societies. I haven't yet found a moral issue that does not, at its roots, eventually revolve around the question of cooperating or competing for survival over the long term. I’m glad Messerly sees the survival question is necessary (the primary question that needs to be answered), but I’m not yet sure why other philosophers don't see it as sufficient.

Thanks to John for his considered remarks and generous correspondence! I'm happy to meet him and start following his blog.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Subscribe to Help Shape This Evolution

    SUBSCRIBE

    RSS Feed


    Blog Philosophy

    This is where ideas mate to form new and better ones. Please share yours respectfully...or they will suffer the fate of extinction!


    Archives

    July 2022
    June 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    May 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    July 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    April 2012


    Click to set custom HTML
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.