Monday, May 10, 2010

Back to Good and Evil

Psychological studies on infants and toddlers at Yale University seem to confirm something we already knew, but pretended hard, very hard, not to know. That is, that there exists an innate moral sense.

It is not just that we are a species hard-wired to construct moral codes and then by and with them make moral judgments. Rather, it is that we are hard-wired already to know good from evil. It's there from the beginning. To be sure, it can, and should be developed, improved, and refined. But we can no longer pretend to understand a human being as a tabula rasa upon which we can create the stuff of morality ex nihilo.

What does this say about the larger Enlightenment project of conquering or simply ignoring nature? Might we finally be awakening from the twisted dream that is trying to live Beyond Good and Evil?

I doubt it.

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