Morals Reconsidered

We Need One Shared Ethic

   Back during our local heat wave in July, I wrote an essay that asked what morals were good for, and the subtitle was “Absolutely Nothing!”* While I stand by much of the content, an alternative answer has recently suggested itself, one that I hope people find more satisfying. I know that I do. 

   My change of heart has come from my developing appreciation for the role of sentiment in our development as a species. As I (too) often do, I jumped on another ‘bandwagon’ without fully absorbing or understanding where it was headed. In this case, the bandwagon was evolution. I became so enthralled with its explanation of WHAT we are that I completely missed its equally important revelation of WHO we are.

   Since that dismissal of morals, written in the blistering temperatures of summer, a slow, gradual cool-down has allowed me to reconsider my original conclusion. More accurately, many wonderful readings during the last few months have brought to mind a different way of presenting the issue. Here are some of the cool things I’ve been learning.

   Plants and trees are sentient beings that communicate with and help other plants and trees. Psychological and physiological influences begin to affect many animals before they are born. Saying ‘It takes a village’ isn’t just empty virtue-signaling. It’s true for all living things. The same species, e.g. beavers, shape their protective environments in a variety of ways, depending on local conditions. 

   Perhaps my favorite, worth a whole paragraph, reflects the ability of ants to learn. One type of ant divided seeds they were storing for food into halves, so they wouldn’t germinate when wet. But it turns out some seeds were still able to do so, ruining them as a source of nourishment. So the clever little critters now split them into four parts instead of two, and that fixes the problem.**

   Taken all together, in these past few months I have learned that any separation between ‘what’ and ‘who’ we are, between our physical, emotional, and intellectual selves has been created by us, which turns out to be another point. Our intellect, as vast and impressive as it is, still has ‘room to grow.’ In the meantime, let’s celebrate the one, shared ethical principle*** that just might save us from extinction: We really are all in this together. 

*https://www.verywellmind.com/morality-vs-ethics-what-s-the-difference-5195271 

**https://jstuckey.substack.com/p/morals-what-are-they-good-for 

***https://www.dhushara.com/Biocrisis/24/3/ants.pdf