[lit-ideas] Re: Inner Moral Law
- From: Eric Yost <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 01 Aug 2005 16:40:18 -0400
Phil: 'Do not harm the other' is the moral principle.
Eric: To go back to the notion of an evolution in moral judgment,
notice the parallel to child development here. (Forgive the
bowdlerized Piaget.)
*undifferentiated state
*awareness of the boundaries of the body (biting blanket doesn't
cause pain but biting hand does)
*awareness of the boundaries of emotion
*symbol use (picture of dog = dog)
*concept use (word "dog" = dog)
*identification of self with family or group
*awareness of the reality of those not in family or group
One could imagine that a primitive moral stage (like an early stage
of child development) would have a moral law that states:
a) Do not harm members of the family or clan (but it's okay to kill
Neanderthals or Moabites or whatever).
As moral laws evolve (like stages of child development), this law
becomes:
b) Do not harm the other.
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