Agreed that this is true and important. It is odd to me that so many more people accept the ideas of behavioral economics and evolutionary psychology, yet don’t take the obvious leap to question whether our moral intuitions are a hard-wired module that evolved to serve our genetic interests, and thus feel like a window onto objective truth, yet are very very different from a sensory perception.
Here’s an example that may help introspectively honest people, partly inspired by a blog post of PJ Eby’s. Consider the social nature of guilt and shame. That is, how different it feels to do something “wrong” and get caught than to do the same thing if you are totally sure that no one will ever find out (and God won’t mind). Most people have some internal morality, and some noble few have a strong internal morality, but most people also have a very strong external morality, that is, “morality” that is really fear of getting caught by other humans. (Or God).
Morality based on getting caught makes no sense in terms of objective truth, but it makes total sense if morality is a way of guiding our behavior in the tribe so as to conform to social standards.
Agreed that this is true and important. It is odd to me that so many more people accept the ideas of behavioral economics and evolutionary psychology, yet don’t take the obvious leap to question whether our moral intuitions are a hard-wired module that evolved to serve our genetic interests, and thus feel like a window onto objective truth, yet are very very different from a sensory perception.
Agreed that this is true and important. It is odd to me that so many more people accept the ideas of behavioral economics and evolutionary psychology, yet don’t take the obvious leap to question whether our moral intuitions are a hard-wired module that evolved to serve our genetic interests, and thus feel like a window onto objective truth, yet are very very different from a sensory perception.
Here’s an example that may help introspectively honest people, partly inspired by a blog post of PJ Eby’s. Consider the social nature of guilt and shame. That is, how different it feels to do something “wrong” and get caught than to do the same thing if you are totally sure that no one will ever find out (and God won’t mind). Most people have some internal morality, and some noble few have a strong internal morality, but most people also have a very strong external morality, that is, “morality” that is really fear of getting caught by other humans. (Or God).
Morality based on getting caught makes no sense in terms of objective truth, but it makes total sense if morality is a way of guiding our behavior in the tribe so as to conform to social standards.
That’s signaling vs. your own desires, good images vs. good decisions.
Inferential distance issue perhaps?