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Moral Philosophy as Applied Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2009

Michael Ruse
Affiliation:
University of Guelph and Harvard University
Edward O. Wilson
Affiliation:
University of Guelph and Harvard University

Extract

(1) For much of this century, moral philosophy has been constrained by the supposed absolute gap between is and ought, and the consequent belief that the facts of life cannot of themselves yield an ethical blueprint for future action. For this reason, ethics has sustained an eerie existence largely apart from science. Its most respected interpreters still believe that reasoning about right and wrong can be successful without a knowledge of the brain, the human organ where all the decisions about right and wrong are made. Ethical premises are typically treated in the manner of mathematical propositions: directives supposedly independent of human evolution, with a claim to ideal, eternal truth.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy 1986

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References

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25 C. J. Lumsden and E. O. Wilson, op. cit., who show the way to predict cultural diversity caused by random choice patterns in different societies.