I believe there is real mental or moral causality in the universe, and consequently, there is a moral dimension of reality that exists objectively, rather than subjectively.
Most everyone considers mathematical knowledge to be objective knowledge, and I believe, and can logically argue, that moral knowledge is objective in much the same way that mathematical knowledge is objective. There are many objective facts that are based on human nature and so I believe that morality is grounded in human nature and is therefore objective, and as mentioned above, I do not believe that one needs to invoke God to make the case.
The caveat being recognition that morality is a matter of human conduct, it's about how human beings "ought" to act, so if by "Objective Morality" we mean morality that would exist independently of human beings, then I think that is a meaningless question. To question objective morality independently of human beings is to pose the question in the context of a reality in which logic, science, morality, reasoning, questions and arguments don’t exist. The simple objective fact is that human beings experience a reality that includes values, purposes, and meanings. The very idea that these and related concepts such as morality can be evaluated in some kind of contrived context that is independent of human beings is meaningless.
If we understand objective knowledge to be knowledge based on observation of the real world, as is the case with objective scientific or mathematical knowledge, then I think that moral knowledge is also arrived at by observation and can be considered objective.
sounds great
what is your moral equivalent to 1 + 1 = 2 ?
If the question is how are mathematics and morality related in my argument...At some stage of human evolution, our ancestors developed a
brain structure that gave them access to the mental world of mathematics. It then became as much a part of their
environment as were the physical environment in which they lived, and they did what
animals do, they explored their environment, and what they did was discover the
reality in which they lived. We can pontificate all day long as to whether or
not that reality ontologically “exists” or is “real”, but the fact remains that
it is a part of our realty, it is a feature of our experience and an aspect of
the environment we explore.
The kind of consideration in the case of mathematical
experience that led us to discover an enriched human environment applies
equally to other distinctive forms of human ability. The human experience
includes qualities, values, meaning, and purpose, and these ethical intuitions
indicate the existence of a moral dimension of reality open to our exploration
to discover further humanizing facts about the nature of the reality of our
experience.
Consequently, there is no reason that we cannot arrive at
objective moral knowledge in the same way that we arrive at other types of
objective knowledge, by the discernment of underlying principles which are then
tested by examining how well those principles align with further observations
of the world of our experience.
The simple self-evident experiential reality of a human
being is one that is imbued with qualities, values, meaning, and purpose,
consequently it is reasonable to accept as fact that we are morally responsible
causal agents. Therefore, it is by direct observation that we can conclude that
there is real mental or moral causality in the universe, and from that, we can
conclude that moral knowledge is objective knowledge.
Moral knowledge is objective because it is based on human
nature, and what we observe about human nature is that we are self-transcending
beings. When we gain access to a new rational dimension of reality, we
immediately begin exploring that new dimension of our environment and go about
discovering the unique aspects of that reality. In so doing, we transcend our
previous state, and bring that new reality into being. In the end, we are the creators of human
nature, we define our nature by the choices we make.
By using the faculty of reason then, we can determine the
way we ought to behave by simply accepting the responsibility that comes with
the freedom to choose. By turning away from unresolvable and obfuscating
intellectual constructs, and simply voting with our life by choosing to be
responsible for how we ought to behave in recognition that objective morality is axiomatic in making a truly moral life possible.
