Abstract
Two highly visible, but conflicting concepts of morality have found widespread acceptance in philosophy. Socrates identified goodness with wisdom, holding lack of knowledge responsible for all moral mistakes. David Hume contrasted prescriptive with descriptive judgments, leading him to the conclusion that the former, unlike the latter, are not rationally supportable. It has often been missed that the acceptance of both, Socrates’ teachings and Hume’s law, generates a conflict, as elements of these two concepts contradict each other. It would appear prima facie obvious that mankind has learned from history how to coexist and make societies more just. Hence, there must be an empirical component contained in morals. Today, we have data that are reflective of certain elements of social justice. Measurables like crime rate, range between high and low income brackets, unemployment et cetera can serve as quantitative indicators for individual components that contribute to social justice. Such evidence corroborates at least a restriction on Hume’s stance, if not an outright negation. Because there are rational and empirical elements underlying morality, thought models need to be calibrated against the real world for validation. The discussion, what constitutes progress and social justice, must consult history and research—not ideology—as sources of justification. Philosophy and the sciences must cross-fertilize each other.
Highlights
What is justice? Who or what provides the authority or the yardstick to make this assessment? Barely a question can be considered more fundamental for human coexistence in general, and for the coexistence in highly civilized technological societies in particular
The empirical science of ethics can be built on the premise that morality is constituted of two founding goals, progress and social justice
With the hypothesis acting as a starting point, it could be argued that scientific observation is only minorly different from ideology, which uses an idea as its starting point
Summary
What is justice? Who or what provides the authority or the yardstick to make this assessment? Barely a question can be considered more fundamental for human coexistence in general, and for the coexistence in highly civilized technological societies in particular. Moral reasoning is commonly described as embracing four components, moral sensitivity, moral judgment, moral motivation, and moral character Implicit in this categorization of implementation is some level of agreement on what constitutes moral choices; that is some agreement on the goal post of a moral ideal, which needs to be laid down in a set of regulations, and over which a consensus can be formed. Measures of morality comprise written rules (a code of law) and general unwritten principles (such as fairness and honesty). Along these lines, Karl Marx juxtaposed the legal system, implemented by state power (force), to the prevailing moral system, sanctioned by an ideology (persuasion)
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