Thetis Lake Regional Park

Thetis Lake Regional Park is in the Victoria area and in 1958 was Canada's first nature sanctuary. Its also only $2.25 to park there all day. I had not been up here since the mid 1990's so it was nice to be back and see more of the park. The park has many trails of varying lengths. I would recommend a compass and jot down some notes or print a map as it is possible to take the wrong path. We took the ~6.5 km walk around the upper and lower lakes and would come back again in the future. Enjoy the pictures!

Wisdom without Zealotry - Morality and Ethics...Which is best?

“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one."

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

What determines what is good? Bad? What determines morality? Is it the same as ethics? Some think we get these things from a creator being. Some think it is innate. Some say it is society. Some say all are correct and others are unsure. What do you think?

Firstly ethics and morality are commonly viewed to be the same thing. The truth is different enough to be discussed.

Ethics is hard to pin down even with a dictionary. The Oxford dictionary says it is:

1. Moral principles that govern a person’s behavior or the conducting of an activity. Moral correctness of specified conduct.

2. The branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles.

Morality in the Oxford dictionary is defined as:

1. Principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior. A particular system of values and principles of conduct. The extent to which an action is right or wrong.

So morality is a set of principles, a system of values, the extent to which a thing is right or wrong. Ethics are moral principles, govern a person’s behavior, govern conduct of an activity, is the moral correctness of specified conduct, a branch of knowledge dealing with moral principles. Sounds like we cannot have ethics without morality.

Or can we? Which principles? Which values? What is right and wrong? Who decides? Perhaps empathy can be our guide. Is it empathy for other beings that let you know when to stop doing a harmful act? Is it a lack of empathy, and associated dehumanization, that leads to wrongful activity? Is empathy innate in most human beings going through a normal life? Can a need that overcomes their empathy cause people to commit wrongful acts? Sounds like empathy for others can help determine what is right and wrong in normal circumstances.

But can we say empathy is ethical, moral, or both ethical and moral? First let’s go back to the definitions but ask a few questions. Is empathy (substituting it for morality in the given definition) a set of principles, a system of values, the extent to which a thing is right or wrong? It does not fit for the statements except for the last one; it does help a person determine the extent to which a thing is right or wrong. Is empathy (substituting it for ethics in the given definition) moral principles, govern a person’s behavior, governs conduct of an activity, moral correctness of specified conduct, or a branch of knowledge dealing with moral principles. Many of the points do fit right in. Empathy should govern a person’s behavior. Empathy should govern conduct of an activity. Empathy should determine the correctness of specified conduct. As Confucius said, “What you would not have done to oneself, do not do to others”. It seems that empathy is more closely linked to ethics than it does for morality.

Let’s talk about morality for a bit. So what sets principles, a system of values, and determines the extent to which a thing is right or wrong? The laws of nations do. So do rules in religions. Organizations and movements also set do’s and don’t. Does that mean laws, religions, organizations and movements claim to be moral? Yes. Are they always empathetic? No, but they do say what is right and what is wrong, use those rules to determine what is moral to them, and determine how people under them should conduct themselves.

So what about ethics? I think it is a more civic term rather than the same as morality and by civic I mean an ideal goal for a society. You want the citizens around you to follow their empathy…their desire to care for others as they themselves would want to be cared for. You do not want a set of laws and rules determined by any group that disregards the raw desire to do what is good and right in order to do what is not good or right for others. Therefore, I propose, in order for everyone to get along you have to strip away all of the tenets, beliefs and obligations that dictate morals and morality. That is because they are specific to the religion, organization, and movement that utilize and promote them. This will get to the core of what a democracy needs to be: treatment of human beings as equal and not to promote harm or hindrance against them unless they themselves disregard these rights in other beings. Sure someone could have an anti-democratic un-ethical viewpoint in this society but they cannot force that morality/belief to change a law or governing principle. They cannot harm or hinder another based on that morality/belief. People should have the freedom to act like jerks but not change government to be an anti-democratic jerk, one who is neither empathetic nor ethical.

On a side note, a nation’s laws are one of the things that can overlap morality and ethics. It can have roots in a moral past with historical and/or religious traditions but those principles should pass the ethical or empathetic test for it to be valid in a democratic society. Not all laws are like that. They are the first things to be changed or made by zealous religions, organizations and movements that think they are moral but are actually unethical and lack regard for their fellow human beings. That is something we must be on the lookout for us to retain our common wisdom. 

One does not have to join a zealous group or following to be an ethical person. Good people do good things. Bad people do bad things. But for good people to do bad things, that takes zealotry.

Inspiration

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2016/01/13/Research-suggests-morality-can-survive-without-religion/6411452715270/?spt=sec&or=sn

Five Steps to Tyranny

Reddit Thread: Atheists have What I Call True Morality

http://www.moralfoundations.org/

Postcard of the Interwebs - 17 May 2017

No Scar Tissue Procedure: Great for those suffering injuries.

Universal Language?: A little article speaking about the theory of a root language or, as the article also suggests, that the human brain has commonalities that enable language to be formed.

NASA Research now Free: Cool!

Personalities Traits Copied when Young: Young kids learn from parents and this study shows they also learn social behavior from one another.

Harsh upbringing leads to Risky Behavior: Another study that shows children and teens that are harshly treated consistently do less well in school and are more likely to engage in counter-social behavior.

Using Perovskite Mineral for Energy Production: is experimenting with a modified mineral to generate energy using solar, thermal and movement at room temperatures. Full testing begins next year.

200 Free Art Books: Interested in art? Would you like an art book? How about 200 from the Guggenheim?