Conatus: THIRD EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

C O N A T U S

Of course, there’s a tendency to want the same to be true of human societies — where good and evil can certainly be spoken of. There is a huge amount of human evil, and even for those who have no belief in God this is a puzzle to be reckoned with. Does good ultimately triumph over evil? It seems innate to most of our nature’s to believe so. But this is perhaps just a quirk of our evolution and of society and culture. Ultimately there should be no expectation of an easy answer and there are no guarantees.

So three types of paradox seem to be with us unavoidably: The ultimate explanation of the universe (including its hints towards a possible perfection, but its actual flawed, assymetrical reality, what we might describe as the contrast between the imperfect world of the Many and the perfection of the One). The amoral balance of co-operation and competition in nature. And the moral balance of good and evil in humanity.

I think these three paradoxes are relevant to atheists as well as the religious believer. For instance, the christian might seek for their resolution in the Kingdom of Heaven. For all of us, well, we can say that humans are very smart creatures, but we so often mess things up really badly! As such, what value is there to a human life and to human society?

Human nature and human culture are not fixed. Things have been different with us in the past — things are different in some human cultures today. A single human life may be insignificant in the great scheme of things, but nonetheless it can be a meaningful life. We can face the

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