Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul C. Anagnostopoulos  Hang on ... what are ethics based on under other metaphysics?
~~ Paul |
Well, values/ethics seem pretty fundamental to us, as conscious beings, but they seem like an irrelevant add-on to conventional science. Frequently, ethical questions - such as the question of what you can and cannot do with human embryos - seem to get resolved in a pretty arbitrary and naive way, partly because science has absolutely nothing to bring these debates. I mean I don't think a tiny ball of cells should be treated as anything other than - a tiny ball of cells - I expect many of the people doing research in this area feel the same way, but they can't offer any 'scientific opinion' in such debates.
Maybe they would have a more central place in a science that contained explicit conscious entities. That is not, in itself a reason to move to that model, but it is a hint of what such a model might offer.
David