First of all, this is an incredibly challenging question
that countless people have devoted their entire lives to and I can’t really
even pretend to satisfactorily answer it here. That said, I’ll outline some of
my thoughts on the issue.
I generally reject the concept of an objective morality as
on face flawed: nothing is inviolable and attempts to prove the contrary are
inherently circular.
As far as how a society should function, my views could be
generally described as rule utilitarian with deontological side constraints as
flavored by Rawls. This means…
Rawls: society should be designed such that everyone could
accept it without knowing what their position in society would be (Veil of
Ignorance/Original Position). He also argued maximin, that actions should be
undertaken to maximize the welfare of the worst off in society, and I’m not
sure I buy this.
Deontological side constraints: certain rights shouldn’t be
violated. For example, the government shouldn’t torture terrorists even if it could
save a couple lives by doing so (which doesn’t actually work, so no problem
there).
Rule util: We should use rules that maximize utility. It’s
like utilitarianism but distinguished from act in that there are moral
guidelines based on what generally maximizes utility.
That’s a rough sketch of where I stand on morality. As far
as the human nature, I’m generally inclined to believe that people can’t
inherently be classified as good or evil. I believe that the environment in
which one is raised is the primary determinant and that to eliminate “evil” we
must improve the lives of children.
On the concept of evilness, I am fascinated and slightly
repulsed by Nietzsche’s critique. Nietzsche believes that moralizing—calling an
act evil—is, paradoxically, the root cause of evil. For instance, when the
Rwandan genocide occurred, it was because Hutus and Tutsis viewed the other as
evil. What does this mean? Can you not view anything as evil? I reject nihilism
and instead reach the conclusion that you should question inherently any
essentialization.
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