3. Three Short Caveats on the Essay’s Task

It’s worth noting from the start in this essay, that if we do formulate a universal moral code, we will have to derive it from the facts of reality. They’re all we can agree on. Myths, morés, customs, norms – all cultural constructs – will not do the job. They vary too radically from place to place, tribe to tribe, and era to era. We must begin from objective facts, which is only to say that I shall try, as strictly as I can, to take a scientific approach; to use reasoning that checks its conclusions against observable evidence, not any society’s familiar opinions.

Whether social scientists could ever persuade the world’s leaders to implement a universal moral code in their legal codes is a question we’ll ignore for now. First, we must formulate a logical, evidence-based moral code. Then, we can go on to work on the project of persuading world leaders to implement that code.

I’ll also warn readers here that I reiterate key points in this essay several times. I change my terms a bit, illustrate generalizations with fresh examples, but yes, I repeat many key points. In my view, leading readers to accept the moral realist model of us humans and our ways of life – at least tentatively –  is worth that kind of dogged persistence.

Above all else, we must stay out of that global bloom of mushroom clouds.

                            (credit: FEMA photo library, via Wikimedia Commons) 

4. The Humanities’ and Social Sciences’ View of Our Dilemma

It is also useful to reiterate here that few philosophers and social scientists today are brave enough to say they’re looking for a universal moral code. Most of them say any such quest is hopeless.

However, the essay below will argue that a universal moral code can be written. The one I offer is based on what we know of the universe itself. In short, I am going to try to build a universal moral code based on what we currently understand about physical reality.

                 Modern science gets born: Physicists at Solvay Conference (1927)

                                           (credit: Wikimedia Commons)