Looking at the Genesis of Moral Philosophy

15 January 2020

Looking at the Genesis of Moral Philosophy.

Okay, while I am enjoying the pop book on moral philosophy I had to go for something just a little more academic.  Hoopla, a delightful tool for e-books at no cost, offered me up a plethora of choices.  I picked Moral Philosophy and the Modern World by Verene.  As opposed to commencing with a tale of his personal epiphany from being worldly directed to community directed as was the case in the pop volume, Mr. Verene commenced with a statement that current moral philosophy is really neither.  This author is not a fan of political correctness or other modern concepts of justice focused behavior.  

Defining the origin of morality, the Verene states it comes from mortality and shame.  He then distinguishes humans from the Gods and from animals.  Verene states the immortality of the Gods make them unconstrained as to the meaning of their behavior.  On the other hand while animals live a finite life like humans,  they don’t live with the intellect that makes them contemplate the meaning of their existence.  Thus it humans and their relation to mortality, i.e., all life ends in death and the valuation given by themselves and others at the end a individual’s life to that life, which is important.  What humans don’t want is to feel shame at the end of theirs lives so they are motivated to live in a way consistent with the perceived good of the community, that is they want to live a moral life.

I am only a few pages in and the the text is dense with syllogisms, and assumptions, and so it is going to take me a while to process this volume.  I will probably read the totality of the pop ethics book long before I am finished with Mr. Verene’s work.  Still, I don’t think I agree with him on the subject of the origin of morality.  The conscience I feel is something I have had since my memories commenced, and that was back in the day when in current parlance, the world around me was only an extension of me.  I am pretty sure that by 3 or 4, I had concepts of good and bad beyond what I had been taught by punishment and reward.

The more pop book talks about the problem of a constructing a concept of a real morality in culture that swings back and forth between highly structured rolls, rules and norms and another one with self focused rule conducted by an aggregation of individuals. This author hangs much on the distinction between the mid-1950s in American and the 1970s. The writer sees America as often vacillating between the “we are all in this together” mindset and the mantra of “As long as I am hurting nobody, save perhaps myself, leave me alone”. Again, I will need to read more to see where this text is leading.

Onto the mundane.  Had a physician’s visit this morning.  Despite the agitation that my bladder feels there appears to be nothing wrong with it.  I got to view the inside of my bladder as the doctor was checking it out.  Getting the camera there was not really pleasant but it was not really painful.  Seeing inside my skin will never feel comfortable to be.  When I had a heart catheterization I watched them snake through that magic muscle. So weird, so very weird.

I also picked up my new sunglasses.  I think I look kind of scary in them. They render me an image somewhere between the sheriff in O Brother Where Art Thou and Harvey Keitel in any number of films.  I will see if I get used to them.