Conatus: REVISED EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

C O N A T U S

change and even more dogmatic in their original beliefs.

But a couple of things are worth noting here. Our human nature is fairly fixed, but the various narratives with which we interpret the world are more fluid. If we want to change something then, we do not need to change human nature, we only need to change the narratives. And secondly, there comes a point where theory gives way to practice. It’s here that people tend to prove themselves more capable of reaching a consensus. Some things just need to be done — one way or another, they have to get sorted. So we have pragmatism. We even have instrumentalism in science, where we know by results that something works, even although we don’t really understand exactly how it works. Justice too takes up a pragmatic stance, once the limits of theories around ethics and morality have been reached.

As I’ve indicated earlier, I’ve tried, in this book, to give a fair hearing to all the types of truth-seeking with which we are engaged and all types of ethics and morality derived from these. Whilst contesting these is difficult on a person-to-person level, a book can speculate a little on possible answers, beyond what a careful balancing of the facts might allow. So I end now with a little speculation, and I hope you will take what follows as just that — pure speculation.

If it is accepted that the universe appears to be pre-disposed towards nurturing life, then at least this is a beginning. It may be called providence, or perhaps grace. Whilst it remains

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