In the absence of objective values, we have no basis for our decisions.
No reason to be deliberate, well-informed or intelligent.
We're at the mercy of the latest fads, propaganda.
If there are no objective values, then we have to choose between manipulation and value-free learning.
Value-free learning is impossible, since to delete any discussion of moral or intellectual values is, implicitly, to discount them.
Hedonism/economic pragmatism become the de facto moral code.
Manipulation means that education is at the mercy of the best-organized political interest groups.
Political might makes right.
Without an objective scale of values, we cannot find a basis for preferring justice or personal liberty over oppression & slavery.
Also, we cannot adjudicate between competing rights-claims:
If true values can only be known through special revelation, available only to some, then society cannot be a partnership of equals.
Moreover, we would have to pretend to be able to distinguish those who are saved/enlightened from those who are not.
Externalization of faith -- leads to a distortion of religion, institutionalizing hypocrisy.
Natural, rational values -- are knowable by all humans, through the exercise of normal capacities.
We don't have to assume the non-existence of supernatural values. The pursuit of such values can be left to special partnerships (church, synagogue, family).
Rousseau, Mill, Freud -- all agree that we are by nature amoral, self-centered.
(For Rousseau, this is tempered by a natural sense of sympathy/pity.)
Predominant evidence from anthropology & biology suggestst that Aristotle is right: that we are social/political animals.
This is a crucial issue--
1. If we are by nature anti-social, then morality (the superego) benefits society at the expense of the individual's self-interest.
2. If we are by nature social, then justice, civic-mindedness, familial bonds, friendship, etc. are all essential components of self-interest. No conflict between morality and self-interest. (Recall the Gorgias)
We can discover natural values through two means:
1. Consulting the advice of the wisest observers of the human condition, as represented in religious texts, stories & literature, proverbs & moral philosophy.
2. We can study the adaptations that make up human nature through history, anthrolopogy, evolutionary psychology.
Some Natural Values:
Eschewing false values, pleasures:
Education must aim, not just at providing technical skills and information, but at forming character.
Should permeate the curriculum -- especially in the choice of literature.
Adults should be given a sphere of freedom, within which to exercise and develop their virtues.
Framework of law and property, of fixed rights and responsibilities.
Law should favor and encourage wise and virtuous action.
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