Can science answer moral questions?

Can science answer moral questions? Sam Harris believes so, but he's wrong. Scientific theories are theories that can be ruled out with physical evidence, while moral theories (and philosophical theories) cannot be ruled out with physical evidence.


Sam Harris says that we do not have free will -- that we are not responsible. This is a moral issue, not a scientific one. Yet Sam Harris believes that science says we are not responsible and he cites some neurology studies that indicate that the brain makes decisions before the person is aware of those decisions. In other words, one's subconscious does some thinking before it serves the result to the conscious. And he says that this implies that we have no control over our thoughts. This, together with his false scientific theory that the Universe is deterministic, and with his false philosophical theory that all knowledge must be justified, leads Sam Harris to the conclusion that people are not responsible because the Big Bang made it so. So, he basically endorses destiny, but he has replaced God with the Universe. But, Harris is wrong on determinism and he is wrong on justificationism (the philosophical theory that all knowledge must be justified).

Consider that one's subconscious is a set of ideas that were conditioned. And that people have the capacity to change their conditioning (note that other animals do not have this capacity because they do not have the capacity for reason). People are responsible for their ideas and actions. They are responsible for improving their ideas and actions. They are responsible for improving their lives and the lives of the people they are responsible for (their children). Nothing is stopping them from accepting their responsibility and enacting change, except for the false belief that one is not responsible for his problems.

I believe that this is one of the worst psychological problems in existence today. Why? Because it works to prevent change of all of one's problems. If one believes he does not have the capacity to change himself, to solve his problems, then he will not work towards that end. Its a self-fulfilling prophecy.

This is not to say that people who have this belief never solve their problems. Sometimes randomness is on their side and problems get solved in spite of their false belief.

My criticism of _Life Without Free Will_, by Sam Harris.


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