Conatus: THIRD EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

C O N A T U S

18. Ethics

Let’s take a look at some of the contradictions in our narratives that are embraced: We reject ‘grand narratives’ yet we still retain many of them. Scientific truth is (in theory) always provisional, but we tend to treat it as absolute. We assume morality to be subjective but refer to an external standard of fairness. We assume beauty to be subjective (‘in the eye of the beholder’) but see beauty (especially in others) as being essential to their nature. We profess a belief in equality but are addicted to power. We like the idea that the universe is One, but then can’t help splitting it up. We often claim no belief in religion, a God, spirituality or soul, but act in a way that suggests we think we have an ‘essential self’. In politics we claim to believe in justice, equality and freedom but in reality we are much less egalitarian. On climate change, we think it should be addressed but we are often unwilling to make any changes that will impact on our lifestyle. We claim to be tolerant in terms of race, religion, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation but we are nonetheless influenced by anything that hinges on identity. We pay lip-service to the idea that we choose friends and partners based on their character, but in fact mostly pick people who have physical characteristics that appeal to us. We pretend that, at most, only one relationship in our lives is non-Platonic!

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