Topics Ethics

Question Are there any arguments for the existence of an objective morality that are not religious?

Accepted:
May 13, 2006

Comments

Gosh, plenty, although it does depend upon how strictly you are defining ‘objective’ and ‘religious’. Let us say by ‘objective’ we mean: not entirely dependent upon an individual’s whims, circumstances, or desires; and by ‘not religious’ we mean: not justified through faith in a divine being. Then, Aristotle’s ethics (virtue ethics), Kant’s, and Bentham and Mill’s utilitarianism all qualify.

However, if by objective you mean ‘an object of scientific enquiry’; and if by ‘not religious’ you mean ‘unrelated to any idea of spirituality whatsoever’, then the list is a shorter. Utilitarianism might still qualify. Some would call that its great strength; others its great weakness. Aristotle, on some interpretations, might squeak through; Kant would not.

Interestingly, Nietzsche lumps all of these together with more obviously religious beliefs, because for example they all involve idealisation, which he argues itself can only be justified through a kind of faith. On the other hand, he says the same thing about objective science. That is, on Nietzsche’s analysis, ‘objective’ and ‘not religious’ are themselves incompatible.

The main argument is probably that it *feels* to most of us as if there are objective moral constraints on our actions. So the burden of proof lies on the person who says that we don't feel like that or that if we do then we're making some mistake.

It may be that you think that religion can indeed provide an argument for an objective morality. If so, then you need to face up to Plato's *Euthyphro dilemma*: either (e.g.) torturing babies is wrong because God says it's wrong (and morality is indeed dependent on God) or God says it's wrong because it is indeed wrong. If you go for the former, then morality appears arbitrary. If God decreed that parting your hair on the left was a terrible wrong, then it would be. And if you go for the latter, then you will need what you are seeking in your question -- a non-religious argument for objective morality.

Question Are there any arguments for the existence of an objective morality that are not religious? Accepted:May 13, 2006

Question Are there any arguments for the existence of an objective morality that are not religious?

Accepted:
May 13, 2006