Philip Badger constructs a materialist ethical theory, with the help of John Rawls.
https://philosophynow.org/issues/159/Materialism_Freedom_and_Ethics
Materialism, Freedom & Ethics
Re: Materialism, Freedom & Ethics
Just a few thoughts on matter.
Without claiming any truth,
- I understand matter as a material from which something can be made, even if it is only dreams and longings.
- Anything that interacts with us, directly or indirectly, is either matter or has a property that is inherent in it and characterises it.
- If something does not interact with us, even indirectly, then it does not exist for us, and is in principle not worth discussing.
One of the inherent properties of matter is its tendency to organise itself - into elementary particles, atoms, ..., nebulae, stars and galaxies, ...
I don't know if anyone has thought about the density of such an organisation ?
Intuitively, I find such a density of organisation quite interesting, because at a certain value of such density, life could arise, and by increasing the density of organisation one could still get consciousness - as one of the properties of matter.
- E=mc^2 - This along with gamma quanta with no rest mass suggests that matter is energy?
- Inertia arises from the property of matter to maintain its state, which requires a certain effort and a certain time to overcome it. If there were no inertia, any change of state would happen instantaneously and therefore time would not matter? This makes you think about the fact that time and inertia are interdependent (as the speed of light approaches, mass and inertia approach infinity - time also tends to stop).
However, how to connect all this with ethics, I will not be able to judge right away. Everything natural is ethical... ?
Without claiming any truth,
- I understand matter as a material from which something can be made, even if it is only dreams and longings.
- Anything that interacts with us, directly or indirectly, is either matter or has a property that is inherent in it and characterises it.
- If something does not interact with us, even indirectly, then it does not exist for us, and is in principle not worth discussing.
One of the inherent properties of matter is its tendency to organise itself - into elementary particles, atoms, ..., nebulae, stars and galaxies, ...
I don't know if anyone has thought about the density of such an organisation ?
Intuitively, I find such a density of organisation quite interesting, because at a certain value of such density, life could arise, and by increasing the density of organisation one could still get consciousness - as one of the properties of matter.
- E=mc^2 - This along with gamma quanta with no rest mass suggests that matter is energy?
- Inertia arises from the property of matter to maintain its state, which requires a certain effort and a certain time to overcome it. If there were no inertia, any change of state would happen instantaneously and therefore time would not matter? This makes you think about the fact that time and inertia are interdependent (as the speed of light approaches, mass and inertia approach infinity - time also tends to stop).
However, how to connect all this with ethics, I will not be able to judge right away. Everything natural is ethical... ?