Topics Ethics

Question Does the morality of the universe depend on the presence of moral beings to "judge" it? Like the question of whether the tree falling in the forest makes any sound if there is no sentient being present to hear it.... (I'm not entirely sure if I've remembered that right!!!) So, would good and evil exist at all in a world without human beings?

Accepted:
September 30, 2008

Comments

Philosophers usually think of morality as applying to the way that people treat other people -- not the way that humans treat things like cups and chairs, and not the way that non-human animals treat each other. The way that we treat a cup may be better or worse, but it can't be moral or immoral. And the way that a cat treats a mouse can be kind or vicious, but it can't be moral or immoral. If this is right, then there can't be morality in a world without human beings.

This does not mean that judging that something is moral makes it moral, however. The way that Jack treats Jill may be moral even if no one (not even Jack or Jill) notices. And Jack's treatment of Jill may be immoral even if everyone involved (including Jack and Jill) thinks that it is moral. Virtue is not always recognized, and evil can be disguised.

A much larger, and more difficult question concerns the ultimate source of morality. Do the standards of morality depend on human judgements and concerns, or do they transcend human judgment? Even if the morality of a given act does not depend on the judgments of a particular individual or a particular community at a given time, might it still depend on the standards that a person or a community develops over time? Or is there a more independent standard -- provided by God, for example, or by facts about what makes humans happy (whether or not we recognize what makes us happy )? This larger question is too big to pursue here; but in thinking about it, you might ask yourself whether you think an entire community could be wrong in all of its considered judgements aross a long period of time.