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1.5 Existence of Goodness: EthicsVersion 1.3 October 2022 (Previous Version) These are the questions we ask in the introduction (Section 0.1.6 – paragraph 5): Why be good? Does goodness come from god? How can we be good without god? If there is no god, does anything go? What is goodness anyway? Is it better to do one’s duty and hang the consequences? Can we ignore what’s happening in the world and still be virtuous? Or is it better to just work towards the best outcomes, and ignore the rules if they get in the way? Is it all relative? Is it just survival of the fittest? Does the end justify the means? The next big question is: Why be good? Is goodness a real thing? This Chapter covers the ethical choices we make. We begin with a discussion of what goodness is, and possible sources of goodness. Then we distinguish between different aspects of goodness. Philosophers often treat “the good” as a thing, whereas, in Part 0 (Introduction) we emphasize that our choices reflect our values, focusing on actions or events, not things. There are several core choices we need to make in ethics: just trying to be “good” isn't enough. Unfortunately, life is more complicated. We arrived at the core value of Life in our discussions of Theology and Mind (Chapters 1.3 and 1.4). We choose to continue to live, to engage in the struggle to live, despite there being no God(s) to provide life with meaning, no afterlife, and despite our relative insignificance in the scale of the universe and as one of billions of people on Earth. There is a choice for us as individuals to live. In this Chapter we propose the core ethical values of Love, Equality and Responsibility. These impact on what it means to value Life. Love means that we care for others, including that we care whether they live. Equality means that if we value our life, we must also value the lives of others. Responsibility means that we should impose on ourselves and others a duty of care towards others, including maintaining life (when it is appropriate, not as an absolute), accepting sanctions, even if it is only personal regret, and promoting sanctions if we fail to do so. We look at how we know what we know about ethics under the following topic headings:
This is the current summary of our conclusions in this area: Goodness comes from within, when we choose, despite the dilemmas, to follow our natural compassion, sense of duty, or enlightened self-interest; we accept personal responsibility in ourselves and others, and join with society to establish a system of justice tempered by mercy, based on the practical outcomes as well as the intent. more (later) Statement 5
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