Morals on the Environment Protection
Kevin R. Henke
October 16, 2022
In Henke (2022b), I stated:
“No gods, angels, demons or a Bible are also needed to figure out how people should try to function in our environments. We should develop rules (morality) through reason and not Biblical dogma so that we can live peacefully with each other and our environment.”
Lundahl (2022j) then replies to my statements:
“The morality is here said to be rooted in reason. Now, the question is not whether an agency external to our reason is needed to enlighten it - it may be the case, and as Christians, both Lewis and I believe after the fall each has some kind of need of that. The questions are rather:
· where do universally valid rules of reason come from?
· does reason deal with any moral rules prior to its own developing of moral rules?
The point of chapters 3 and (I think) 4 is, the laws of chemistry and electronics and physics and the constraints of evolution do not put us into the reach of discovering what is universally valid. For our reason to do this, we need to be more than that. The sentence ‘[o]ur brains, thoughts and surroundings are all ultimately controlled by the laws of chemistry and physics,’ needs to be false, at least if implying ‘and nothing else.’”
In Henke (2022ay), I answered Mr. Lundahl’s question: “Where do universally valid rules of reason come from”:
“The “universally valid rules of reason” that Lundahl (2022j) references are solely human discoveries. There’s no need for anything beyond human reason (Dennett 2006). The rules are “universal” because they happen to work in a variety of circumstances from generation to generation. In ancient times, humans learned to develop morals so that members of the tribe could get along with each other. Otherwise, the tribe would fall apart. People needed to cooperate with each other to survive. They also learned how to make spears, avoid the berries that were poisonous, develop strategies for hunting, etc. Both of their technological and socialization (moral) skills came from reasoning and they passed that knowledge onto their children. Their children added to the knowledge and passed that onto their children, etc. In other words, ancient people discovered morality in the same way that they discovered how to make a spear – through reason and trial and error.
In more modern times, we discovered that slavery was not a good idea from rational debate and empathy for our fellow human beings, and certainly not from prayer and the Bible (Avalos 2011). We also learned that it’s not a good idea to dump toxins into the atmosphere and oceans. Through physics, chemistry and biology, we learned that pollution may not just “go away.” Each generation learns valuable and often painful lessons through reason, trail and error, and debate, and we try to pass that wisdom and knowledge unto the next generation along with our positive technological advances. There’s no evidence that any of our advances in reasoning and technology came from God or something ‘beyond Nature.’” [my emphasis in bold]
Lundahl (2022s) then replies to my bolded section:
“That's a different case, the moral universal is the same as previously, the application varies bc of different knowledge. Itself improved due to universally valid rules of logic. Yes, going beyond the environment.”
No, it is not a different case! Protecting the environment is a moral issue just as much as protecting people. Environmental morals affect the well-being of plants, animals and people on this planet. We discovered that allowing individuals to dump wastes into the air, land and water is disastrous just as slavery, torture, fraud and other immoral acts are disastrous to human societies. Environmental immorality actually can be worse because it also affects plants and animals. Through scientific investigations, rational thought, debate and empathy for the environment, we discovered truths that allow us to promote responsible environmental stewardship, just as we use investigations, rational thought, debate and empathy for our fellow humans to discover truths about responsible societal morals. All of these truths exist because of the properties of our Universe and who humans are. As an example, the potentially toxic methylation and bioaccumulation of mercury through the food chain, which we only discovered a few decades ago, are due to the laws of chemistry and physics (Lindberg et al. 1987). Because we are social animals, we also need to discover moral truths that allow us to maximize social harmony. Again, effective morals, whether dealing with human societies or the environment, come from investigations, rational thought, debate and empathy, and not from the religious dictates of priests, kings, “prophets” and apostles.
References:
Avalos, H. 2011. Slavery, Abolitionism, and the Ethics of Biblical Scholarship: Sheffield Phoenix Press: Sheffield, UK, 331pp.
Dennett, D.C. 2006. Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon: Viking Penguin: London, UK, 448pp.
Lindberg, S., P.M. Stokes, and E. Goldberg. 1987. “Group Report: Mercury”, chapter 2, in T.C. Hutchinson and K.M. Meema (eds.), Lead, Mercury, Cadmium and Arsenic in the Environment: John Wiley & Sons: New York, USA, pp. 17-33.