UM #3: Morality as Whatever Works? (Pragmatic)

[Josh]

6/2/06:

Morality as Whatever Works (whatever is Pragmatic)?

Well, I think morality in general is pragmatic. It makes sense. God didn't just come up with arbitrary moral rules; they all have a general benefit: if you lie, there will be consequences, if you murder there'll be consequences, if you have sex with multiple partners there are consequences. However, although morality makes sense (or at least the best moralities makes sense), using Pragmatism as the sole guide of your conscience is a grave error. If we all made all our moral decisions based on 'what works best' we could very easily end up becoming Hitlers. I do believe that sometimes the most logical course of action is the wrong one.

[Josh]

In response to Mo's post, I can see this thread needs some development.

A rebuttal to my last post here would be that Hitler's morality could be demonstrated to be unpragmatic in many regards- especially in regard to trying to lay a foundation for a lasting civil society.

The Third Reich was pragmatic in the sense that it pursued Hitler's goals with utilitarian precision, but Hitler's goals could be shown to be in conflict with the goals necessary to establish and maintain a successful state.

I'll be back with some further development on this subject and the possible problems with a moral systems based solely on pragmatic consideration or how such a system is (or isn't) different than the idea of universal moral laws.

But first it would be helpful to hear your response to my last post here:
www.aletheia.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=morality&action=display&thread=3056