Tag Archives: Morality

Science, Religion and Values: Magisteria Redefined

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Science and religion have been archenemies for some time now, with one on a quest for knowledge and truth, and the other seeking to fill a perceived void of meaning in lives. Logical inspection confirms the two systems are incompatible with one another, since science requires evidence for all claims, whereas religion insists on faith when there is no evidence whatsoever. But many do have both science and religion in their lives. How do they deal with the conflict? Stephen Jay Gould wrote in a 1997 essay on the non-overlapping magisteria, NOMA, that there actually is no conflict between science and religion:

“No such conflict should exist because each subject has a legitimate magisterium, or domain of teaching authority—and these magisteria do not overlap (the principle that I would like to designate as NOMA, or “nonoverlapping magisteria”).

The net of science covers the empirical universe: what is it made of (fact) and why does it work this way (theory). The net of religion extends over questions of moral meaning and value. These two magisteria do not overlap, nor do they encompass all inquiry (consider, for starters, the magisterium of art and the meaning of beauty). To cite the arch cliches, we get the age of rocks, and religion retains the rock of ages; we study how the heavens go, and they determine how to go to heaven. Continue reading →

Is is not Ought

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The killing of Osama bin Laden and the ensuing controversy over the widespread jubilation in the U.S. have prompted some scientists to explain the psychological and evolutionary basis for those celebrations. Unfortunately, some of them used science to argue that since joy in this situation is natural, it is also morally good. Regardless of one’s view on the appropriateness of celebrating a killing, the fact that it is natural to do so has no relation to whether it is moral or right.

Science bases human behavior on the functions of neural networks and evolutionary adaptations, but does not excuse us from taking responsibility for those behaviors. Just as promiscuity may be a natural but not morally inacceptable temptation for males in a monogamous society, natural joy over the killing of an evil man is not necessarily good either. Our values come from philosophy, not empirical evidence. Or, as Hume wrote, what is is not necessarily what ought to be. Continue reading →

Moral Code

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Why is it wrong to kill babies? Why is it wrong to take advantage of mentally retarded people? To lie with the intention of cheating someone? To steal, especially from poor people? Is it possible that Medieval European society was wrong to burn women suspected of witchcraft? Or did they save mankind from impending doom by doing so? Is it wrong to kick rocks when you’re in a bad mood?

Questions of right and wrong, such as these, have for millenia been answered by religious authorities who refer to the Bible for guidance. While the vast majority of people still turn to Abrahamic religious texts for moral guidance, there are some other options for developing a moral code. Bibles aside, we can use our “natural” sense of what’s right and wrong to guide our actions; a code based on the natural sense would come from empirical studies on what most people consider to be right or wrong. Ignoring the logistics of creating such as code, we should note that the rules in this code would not have any reasoning behind them other than “we should do this because this is what comes naturally.” How does that sound? Pretty stupid. Continue reading →