Suppose that over the next couple decades, the study of the brain provides solid evidence that certain kinds of behavior promote/hinder human flourishing. How might we use such information or enforce a "new" morality? Can we keep all our freedoms?
(By the way, I think the findings will be more or less a confirmation of things we already seem to "know," however, when dealing with matters of fact, policies might be more justifiable. For instance, wearing a seat belt has proven to be safer than not, so now its a law.)
I want to keep the questions above open for discussion, but...
One of the biggest issues I foresee is that we will continue to discover the importance of early childhood in shaping who we are (our moral selves especially). In this hypothetical future, "good" parenting might require more than some are willing to give. How sacred is our right to parenthood?
The issue of parenting is almost always what it boils down to. Today, parents hold up their fists in anger if anyone dares to tell them how to raise their children. For me, it's one of the most frustrating types of scenarios because I honestly do not think that parents are the ONLY people that can rear children. It used to be that teachers were secondary parental figures, teaching morality and general social conduct to kids. Over time, however, it seems that parents have expected teachers to teach objectively without influence on "right" and "wrong." The issue I have here is that parents, also, expect teachers to cover things like sex (no matter if it's an abstinance program or contraceptives...they still want teachers to do the talking). Why would someone put this controversial issue in the hands of teachers, yet simultaneously FREAK OUT if they try to teach a child about greed or being a sore loser? Everyone's a winner, apparently.
ReplyDeleteWe've promoted a "hands off" policy of parenting...or at least allowed it to slide idly by. I don't think that parents are going to be the ones to teach morality, for they are the ones teaching the poor morality currently. Most prejudice, anger, hate, and so forth comes directly from the parents. We cannot expect all of humanity to kneel whenever science figures out moral truths. They won't kneel for evolution, for Christ's sake (Hah).
We should push for morality through schools at first. Over time, generations of morally "good" people will be the majority. Then, perhaps, we can try to push it on parents.
The issue, though, is what I mentioned earlier. Parents don't want teachers medling with their childrens' hatred! That's their job to breed it >-<
So we're stuck. Either we expect parents to accept scientific discovery (which, as we can see by our recent Monkey Bill, isn't promising) or we can try to work it into the education system (which, as I've mentioned, is a "hands off" issue).
Guh.
Just like your mentioning of seatbelt laws, we have standards that parents must uphold if they want to continue to have a family. Cases of neglect, abuse, and insest shock normal people. In the same way that not all people that drive without their seatbelt doesn't get a ticket, not all bad parents have their children taken from them.
ReplyDeleteThat's what God is for: to right all the hidden wrongs, reward all the unnoticed acts of kindness, avenge the atrocities committed against the innocent, and punish those wrongdoers who managed to escape punishment in this life. Perfectly reasonable to wish for, but also perfectly unlikely to be the way that things are actually set up.
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