arguing that eating meat is morally wrong because animals suffer in the process is not an appeal to emotion—it’s an appeal to facts about conscious experience.
Thank you very much for the post that addresses the question of “objective morality.” Certain moral and altruistic behaviors have been observed in non-human animals, all of them related, naturally, to the survival of the species as a social community of shared interests.
But human beings have a cultural capacity to develop morality… also emotionally.
Regarding about eating meat, there is abundant testimony from people from vegetarian cultures (for example, Hindus) who feel a terrible repugnance to eating meat (because it goes against a religious mandate). There is no reason why cultural strategies cannot achieve the same effect based on non-religious principles.
The philosopher of religion Loyal Rue believes that religion can be considered to consist of “educating the emotions.”
Therefore, it may be useful to figure out what “objective morality” is, but we are cultural animals, and we can create an emotionally effective morality simply by organizing socially viable psychological strategies based on rationally constructed moral principles.
Of course, the scope of effectiveness of these strategies is limited. We cannot create moral emotional reactions based on principles, for example, of purchasing consumer goods (as marketers would like), but a political adherence internalized as “communist morality” has indeed been achieved to a certain extent in Marxist regimes.
For those of us who believe in altruism, it is feasible to attempt to achieve an internalized morality based on rationally constructed altruistic principles comparable to traditional “Christian saintliiness.”
Thank you very much for the post that addresses the question of “objective morality.”
Certain moral and altruistic behaviors have been observed in non-human animals, all of them related, naturally, to the survival of the species as a social community of shared interests.
But human beings have a cultural capacity to develop morality… also emotionally.
Regarding about eating meat, there is abundant testimony from people from vegetarian cultures (for example, Hindus) who feel a terrible repugnance to eating meat (because it goes against a religious mandate). There is no reason why cultural strategies cannot achieve the same effect based on non-religious principles.
The philosopher of religion Loyal Rue believes that religion can be considered to consist of “educating the emotions.”
Therefore, it may be useful to figure out what “objective morality” is, but we are cultural animals, and we can create an emotionally effective morality simply by organizing socially viable psychological strategies based on rationally constructed moral principles.
Of course, the scope of effectiveness of these strategies is limited. We cannot create moral emotional reactions based on principles, for example, of purchasing consumer goods (as marketers would like), but a political adherence internalized as “communist morality” has indeed been achieved to a certain extent in Marxist regimes.
For those of us who believe in altruism, it is feasible to attempt to achieve an internalized morality based on rationally constructed altruistic principles comparable to traditional “Christian saintliiness.”