Since high school, perhaps even before that, I have sought to understand the foundations of morality, although I did not know to put it that way until later in college. Only much later did I finally conclude that there are no absolute foundations of morality. The search for the ultimate principles from which all else can be derived with certainty has always been doomed to failure.
Religion and theology cannot supply the answer either. Reference to any supreme being as the ultimate authority who commands all moral precepts is literally a fantasy. Such god-given rules are the projection of human thought onto a socially constructed omniscient, all-wise being–a figment of our collective imagination. Like Narcissus becoming enraptured with the beautiful boy he sees in the pool, we fall in love with the reflections of ourselves in all our frailty and imperfection that we imagine to be supreme beings.
But morality most certainly exists. It is essential to human society (and to that of other social animals as well). If its essence cannot be captured in philosophical principles nor brought down from Mount Sinai, it can still be studied, understood, and lived.
At some point on this intellectual journey of over 50 years, I realized that morality, like the air we breathe, is all-encompassing. Not only are we genetically disposed to seek and respect reciprocity in human behavior; but we are continually engaging in a conversation, a dialogue, a debate, a struggle–occasionally even violence and wars–to determine what counts for right and wrong behavior.
From John Maynard Hutchins and Mortimer J. Adler, I borrow the phrase “The Great Conversation” and add to it “About Right & Wrong.” However, unlike Hutchins and Adler, by “Great Conversation” I mean to encompass, not just the philosophical and scientific dialogue, but all contributions to building the moral order of every society large and small. It’s a big tent with many voices, including a parent’s disapproving glance when a child does something objectionable.
The structure of the website reflects what I realized about how the content of morality evolves and devolves. What we deem right and wrong is a consensus of sorts, but almost never one in which everyone involved agrees on the answers. Many believe in moral absolutes and have several at hand they think everyone else should accept. Others, like me, think there is no moral precept for which there are never exceptions under appropriate circumstances. We debate, discuss, struggle, and, occasionally, fight to the death over what we think we and others should and should not do.
Some people assassinate physicians who perform abortions, proclaiming that (human) life begins at conception and any interference with a pregnancy is murder. They profess to believe that they are acting, if not in self-defense, then in defense of human life writ large. Some opponents of abortion also believe they are acting to defend the moral order.
Defenders of a woman’s right to choose whether to carry a pregnancy to term argue that other equally valid moral values such as the life of the mother or the quality of life that the mother and child can expect deserve consideration as part of a complex moral decision.
Few on either side may be aware that proscriptions of abortion have some of their historical roots in male dominance of women. See Rick Mula, “Hegemonic Masculinity and Reproductive Freedom” 42 Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender, & Social Justice 203 (2015)
The scope and sweep of The Great Conversation About Right & Wrong is vast, stretching back to before humans emerged and continuing through tens of thousands of years across different cultures and into the present.
About Right & Wrong is about how human groups and societies construct, develop, and revise the content of our moral systems. It is not primarily about moral content (what we, in fact, consider right and wrong); not is it primarily about ethics (the science of prescribing right & wrong). Although I may occasionally share an opinion or two about such things, the goal of this venture is to explore the social processes that lead to the acceptance of some behavior as right and other as wrong and to unearth the processes that result in cultural changes in our views about right and wrong.
I invite all who care to participate in the conversation about The Great Conversation to join in on this website. Comment on essays and blog posts. Submit your own articles. Make suggestions for improving this website.
Together we can contribute to greater clarity of thought about morality and, occasionally perhaps, assist in moving The Great Conversation forward.
Mike Palmer, Editor