Wednesday, January 19 2005: Absolutes
For whatever reason my thoughts have been wandering over the terrain
of the absolutist/relativist debate lately. For the longest time I've
held to the existence of at least some set of absolute truths. The
contents of that set has changed over time, but even after my successful
deconversion I figured there were some aspects of reality that stuck to
their guns no matter the context.
But now I'm not so sure. What does it mean for something to be absolute? In a world governed by quantum indeterminancy on the small end and general relativity at the large end does the word 'absolute' have any real meaning? There's some evidence that the fundamental constants of physics may change overtime, probably in relation to how "stuck together" the forces are.
The concept of there being some moral absolutes woven into the fabric of reality is utter nonsense. First, the great majority of matter in the universe is completely amoral. There's no right or wrong to H2. Second, there isn't really any great agreement in the moral memosphere of human culture, either, outside of a handful of cross-cultural taboos like don't fuck your sister and don't eat your own shit. However, these aren't even absolutes because people fuck their sisters and eat their own shit all the time. Looking at other moral "injunctions" for more rudimentary cultures (such as that of chimps in the Gombe) one can see more clearly that morality in social animals is a matter of codifying ways of interacting to facilitate social bonding, to discourage biologically harmful behavior, and to exert and maintain control. In some circumstances morality also works to effect an equitable (or less inequitable) distribution of resources.
About the best you could do is talk about absolutes within a particular context. Everything has a context. The ironic thing is that many of the most ardent absolutists have to admit this when the rubber meets the road. "Thou shalt not kill." Well, unless you have to defend yourself or you have to protect someone else or that person commits a heinous crime. "Thou shalt not bear false witness." But also, "For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?"
One domain where absolutes definitely have residence is mathematics, but I have never been able to figure out to my satisfaction if mathematics exists as a complex of memes cavorting about in human culture or if there is something more "real" about it.
But now I'm not so sure. What does it mean for something to be absolute? In a world governed by quantum indeterminancy on the small end and general relativity at the large end does the word 'absolute' have any real meaning? There's some evidence that the fundamental constants of physics may change overtime, probably in relation to how "stuck together" the forces are.
The concept of there being some moral absolutes woven into the fabric of reality is utter nonsense. First, the great majority of matter in the universe is completely amoral. There's no right or wrong to H2. Second, there isn't really any great agreement in the moral memosphere of human culture, either, outside of a handful of cross-cultural taboos like don't fuck your sister and don't eat your own shit. However, these aren't even absolutes because people fuck their sisters and eat their own shit all the time. Looking at other moral "injunctions" for more rudimentary cultures (such as that of chimps in the Gombe) one can see more clearly that morality in social animals is a matter of codifying ways of interacting to facilitate social bonding, to discourage biologically harmful behavior, and to exert and maintain control. In some circumstances morality also works to effect an equitable (or less inequitable) distribution of resources.
About the best you could do is talk about absolutes within a particular context. Everything has a context. The ironic thing is that many of the most ardent absolutists have to admit this when the rubber meets the road. "Thou shalt not kill." Well, unless you have to defend yourself or you have to protect someone else or that person commits a heinous crime. "Thou shalt not bear false witness." But also, "For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?"
One domain where absolutes definitely have residence is mathematics, but I have never been able to figure out to my satisfaction if mathematics exists as a complex of memes cavorting about in human culture or if there is something more "real" about it.
