Secular Café: Moral character and science

Secular Café Discuss philosophical concepts and moral issues.

Moral character and science May 27th 2012, 06:24 Folks, I hold a belief that moral character has nothing much to do with science, if anything. I don't have any evidence for this belief, or even an idea of where my belief comes from, but there it is and I can't shift it. There are those who would tell us that we are part of chains of cause and effect, that our behaviour is conditioned by upbringing and socialisation, that our behaviour can be driven by deep imprints on our species (tooth and claw stuff) and all kinds of scientific reasoning to explain why we do what we do. However, I hold this belief that when a person does something sneaky and underhand, they do it because this is the kind of person they are; as if the bad fairy had waved the wand over their crib and made them like that. Although calling myself liberal, I also know that my belief is conservative, and highly judgmental, making me someone who would call another person "a bad lot" if the circumstances arose. What do others think about this issue? Alex. PS - Of course the 'bad fairy' scenario would itself be part of a cause and effect thing, so that is not a very good example, as it lets the sneaky and underhand person off the hook, implying that they were alright until cursed.

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