Objective Morality In A Nutshell

The key ethical steps to a rational world:

(1) The foundation and starting point: Why does man need a code of moral values?
(2) Man’s nature is that of a rational being.
(3) Man has free will, and must choose to think (i.e., reason) in order to survive.
(4) Man is constantly faced with unlimited choices and alternatives, and must have rational values and principles to guide his decisions and actions across the span of his life.
(5) Because man’s life is the source of all values, man’s life must be the standard of value. The objective requirements of human life must be the standard for defining principles of right and wrong.
(6) Actions that promote man’s proper survival (e.g., productiveness, honesty, integrity) are rational and good; actions that thwart man’s survival (e.g., dishonesty, passivity, self-sacrifice) are irrational and evil.
(7) The mind is a property of the individual. Each individual must necessarily take responsibility for his own life—i.e., for his own choice to think and to be guided by his rational understanding and conclusions.
(8) Rational egoism is man’s proper moral code.

Is it a rational universe?

The complexity of the modern world can often seem bewildering. Terrorist bombings, mass murder, gang violence, governmental strangulation of the economy, confiscatory taxation, lame-brained conspiracy theories, faith-based ideologies, political demagoguery laced with cynicism and lies--all of these are so commonplace that we accept them as ordinary. Yet we also live in a world where science and modern technology open amazing new possibilities so fast we can barely keep pace. How is that possible? How can the startling achievements of the human mind co-exist with unconscionable brutality and evil everywhere we look?

How to make sense of it all? Should we just accept the fact that mankind is irrational and learn to live with ugliness, destruction, senseless death and depravity? Or are there cultural forces at work which explain the madness--ideas which undercut progress and make all the evils we see possible? And are there potential solutions which could offer a way toward a better tomorrow?

In other words: Is it a rational universe? Given certain philosophical and cultural sources, does the current day orgy of death and depravity have a certain logic behind it?

The basic premise of this blog is that there are very specific causes for the world we see around us--and very specific solutions. And the first step toward creating a better world--where happiness and success rather than ugliness and gore dominate the news--is to understand what those cultural forces are. And that requires a mind that is open to challenging the most fundamental beliefs we have come to live by.

Rational, independent thought is the pathway to clarity. And it starts with each individual mind. The world will not be saved by elections or mass demonstrations or revolutionary guillotines. It can only be saved one life at a time.