Science cannot lead us to ethical conclusions (Gould)
April 27th, 2007 | Published in Morality, Quotes, Religion, Science | 1 Comment
No factual discovery of science (statements about how nature “is”) can, in principle, lead us to ethical conclusions (how we “ought” to behave), or to convictions about intrinsic meaning (the “purpose” of our lives).
–Stephen Jay Gould, “Darwin and the Munchkins of Kansas,” in I Have Landed: The End of a Beginning in Natural History (2002), 215
May 4th, 2007 at 1:43 am (#)
The flaw in this statement is the presumption that science is supposed to produce a system of ethics – it isn’t. It is purely a system for discovering the nature of the universe, something which it is rather good at.
This does not mean, however, that theism or religion are necessary for ethical systems to be developed, is is perfectly possible to develop an ethical system working purely from reason. An excellent example of this is social contract theory, which can be succinctly summarised as “do unto others…”, and which does not rely on any form of theism or religious institution to back it. Moral systems which rely on arbitrary and unproven creator-beings to justify their demands are, however, extremely suspect.