Mike, it is not moral relativism. The science of behavior is not incompatible with having a soul and believing in good or bad. It just explains the way that people learn to be good or bad by their experiences with the environment and the synaptic self (biological) that is wired by those experiences. The practical application is that we can create an environment where prosocial behavior is the most dominant. The principles of behavior apply whether you know it or not. Usually we leave it up to chance - then we get a lot of bad behavior happening because of the experiences those individuals have had in their developmental environment that makes bad behavior to occur at a higher frequency. Imagine if we can create an environment where acting pro-socially and acting to benefit the culture rewarding to the individual therefore those behaviors occur more frequently. Where we are today is a result of the unguided cultural evolutionary process that now rewards many individuals for their bad behavior and as a society we are not reinforcing rule following or the behaviors associated with the cement of society - 1. Stable predictable patterns of behavior. 2. Cooperative behavior. That builds trust and reciprocity - what glues our behavior in our society/culture. Ask - why are we becoming unglued?
Hmm. Moral relativism and we're all nothing but a stimulus-response machine? I can't say I agree with either of those premises. I think we have a soul and I believe in good and evil. But I'm sure I'll find many other things to agree with you guys on in the future, as I have in many of your prior posts.
Mike, it is not moral relativism. The science of behavior is not incompatible with having a soul and believing in good or bad. It just explains the way that people learn to be good or bad by their experiences with the environment and the synaptic self (biological) that is wired by those experiences. The practical application is that we can create an environment where prosocial behavior is the most dominant. The principles of behavior apply whether you know it or not. Usually we leave it up to chance - then we get a lot of bad behavior happening because of the experiences those individuals have had in their developmental environment that makes bad behavior to occur at a higher frequency. Imagine if we can create an environment where acting pro-socially and acting to benefit the culture rewarding to the individual therefore those behaviors occur more frequently. Where we are today is a result of the unguided cultural evolutionary process that now rewards many individuals for their bad behavior and as a society we are not reinforcing rule following or the behaviors associated with the cement of society - 1. Stable predictable patterns of behavior. 2. Cooperative behavior. That builds trust and reciprocity - what glues our behavior in our society/culture. Ask - why are we becoming unglued?
I used it with the undergraduate class for years.
Hank
I just ran into Reynolds's book the other day in my library, as we move it from our current offices to another location. Still an excellent primer.
Hmm. Moral relativism and we're all nothing but a stimulus-response machine? I can't say I agree with either of those premises. I think we have a soul and I believe in good and evil. But I'm sure I'll find many other things to agree with you guys on in the future, as I have in many of your prior posts.