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Ethics
[Audio] Ethics and Morality, without Religion
Mon, 01/18/2010 - 23:32 >> CausalCrunch
From MPR Broadcast: Midmorning, 01/18/2010, 9:06 a.m.
The humanist chaplain at Harvard preaches on living an ethical life without belief in God as the underpinning. His new book explores why people manage to do good without belief in a deity.
Guests
* Greg Epstein: Author of "Good Without God." He's the humanist chaplain for Harvard University.
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[Audio] Study: Humans Not So Different From Animals
Thu, 04/09/2009 - 01:27 >> CausalCrunch
Broadcast: Midmorning -- Humans vs. animals, a comparative studyA writer investigates what it means to be human by considering how much she is like certain animals. One example: like people, prairie dogs have an extended vocabulary of sounds.
Guests: ... Read more
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Study: Cooperative Behavior Evolved
Tue, 04/07/2009 - 20:34 >> CausalCrunch
ScienceDaily (Apr. 7, 2009) -- One of the perplexing questions raised by evolutionary theory is how cooperative behavior, which benefits other members of a species at a cost to the individual, came to exist.
Cooperative behavior has puzzled biologists because if only the fittest survive, genes for a behavior that benefits everybody in a population should not last and cooperative behavior should die out, says Jeff Gore, a Pappalardo postdoctoral fellow in MIT's Department of Physics.
Gore is part of a team of MIT researchers that has used game theory to understand one solution yeast use to get around this problem. The team's findings, published in the April 6 online edition of Nature, indicate that if an individual can benefit even slightly by cooperating, it can survive even when surrounded by individuals that don't cooperate.
In short, the study offers a concrete example of how cooperative behaviors can be compatible with evolutionary theory. ... Read more
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Societies w/Large Income Disparities Imprison More of Their People
Sat, 04/04/2009 - 11:41 >> CausalCrunchThe Equality Trust -- The proportion of the population imprisoned in a society is influenced by four things: crime rates, conviction rates, the tendency to give prison sentences rather than fines or community service, and the lengths of prison sentences. Some societies use imprisonment far less, and when they do imprison people, they put more emphasis on training and rehabilitation so that re-offending rates are also lower.
In the UK, despite falling crime rates, imprisonment rates have been climbing steadily for decades leading to a crisis of prison overcrowding. In the USA only about 12% of the growth in prison populations is due to an increase in crime. In both countries the rise in prison populations over recent decades seems to be primarily the result of more punitive sentencing.
Click Image to enlarge ... Read more
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Science: Compassion Evolved
Thu, 03/12/2009 - 23:18 >> CausalCrunch
MPR Broadcast: Midmorning --
Though scientists consider competition to be a major motivator for human behavior, complex emotions like modesty and love also have a valuable role in social groups.
Guests
Dacher Keltner: Professor of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley. ... Read more
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Study: Power And Compassion Mutually Exclusive?
Thu, 01/01/2009 - 02:40 >> CausalCrunch
ScienceDaily (Dec. 23, 2008) -- The fact that many cultures emphasize the concept of “noblesse oblige” (the idea that with great power and prestige come responsibilities) suggests that power may diminish a tendency to help others. Psychologist Gerben A. van Kleef (University of Amsterdam) and his colleagues from University of California, Berkeley, examined how power influences emotional reactions to the suffering of others. ... Read more
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What is Beingism.org?
We are an online community of passionate, thoughtful people who believe that the consistent application of reason leads to a secular, progressive, naturalistic, and compassionate philosophy of life. We hold that all beings share an interest in their own happiness, and that compassion for others is often instrumental in attaining happiness. We also hold that incorporating compassion into our social, cultural, governmental, and political systems is the key to creating a society that is maximally free and fair to all beings. Though we reject the idea that there is any utopian cure for our world's ills, we believe that better solutions to complex problems can be found by using science and research in an effort to understand causes and consequences. [more]
We also recognize that for most people, including ourselves, conflicts between compassion and self-interest exist, and that living ethically can be difficult. As a partial remedy, we join together as members of a supportive community to pursue not only the happiness of others, but also our own.
While Beingism's most fundamental premises as described above are unlikely to change, our philosophy is organic, evolving as its adherents and debaters discuss it. We welcome new ideas, just as we welcome new members to our community. Join us for discussion and debate, activism and aid.
Are You a Beingist?
Beingism is a philosophy of life based on rationality and compassion for oneself and others. It is nondogmatic, progressive, and atheistic.
You might be a Beingist if you believe:
- Reason and science are our best means of understanding the universe.
- Everything that exists is natural -- nothing is supernatural.
- Ethical values are subjective, but nevertheless very important to people.
- There's no such thing as free will, and causality appears to play a significant role in the way our world operates.
Other premises include:
- Everyone wants to be happy and have a fulfilling life.
- A belief in free will as it is commonly understood is a major barrier to compassion and
- Although suffering is sometimes unavoidable, no one deserves to feel pain.
- People are generally more likely to be happy in a culture where power and control are shared together rather than held by elites.
- We all benefit to some extent from the success of others, and with effort and patience, society can be structured such that this is even more the case.
If you agree with these ideas and you wish to call yourself a Beingist, then you are one. Please join us! If, on the other hand, you're not sure about some of it -- or if you just flat out disagree -- let's communicate.
Beingism's Purpose
Our mission is to establish a coherent vision of ethical behavior and social activism for people disinclined to accept religious and faith-based philosophies of life, and to further it by creating community and developing new and enjoyable ways of changing the world for the better.
It may be that nonreligious individuals are less likely to form communities than their religious counterparts. Certainly, the lack of a preexisting community (such as an established church) is a relative hindrance to community-building. No doubt also willingness to question pervasive societal norms, particularly when they are part of belief systems from which most people derive emotional, social, and/or financial support, probably tends to accompany an individualistic (rather than community-oriented) approach to life. In addition, social stigma reduces the community resources available to nonreligious people, both financially (e.g. nonreligious institutions are not given the same financial benefits as faith-based organizations) and socially (e.g., fear of discrimination leads to increased difficulty in reaching out to find others with similar values). Unfortunately, these factors have fractured communities of nonreligious people, making it extremely difficult for them to agree upon or articulate a positive vision for the future, or to create social change. This lack of community also leads religious communities to conclude that nonreligious people are without ethics.
When we say that we're "nonreligious," "agnostic," "atheist," or "unbelieving," we're really only saying what we aren't. These words certainly reflect an aspect of our identity, but we can be (and we are) much more than this: We are a community of people with many shared ideas and values, including reason, happiness, and compassion.
Creating the social change these values ask of us isn't always easy. Powerful forces oppose it, and devoting effort to creating change may mean hard work helping others or engaging in activism. It may mean giving up the time to do other fun activities. Sometimes it means being stigmatized by ideological enemies as unpatriotic, weak, contrary, or worse. And even if we don't fear wasting our efforts or being criticized, we may simply not know how to go about it by ourselves.
By working together, we can avoid many of these problems. By doing so, we not only get closer to creating the kind of society we want to live in, we also find ways to enjoy the process. By unleashing our creativity and passion in the common pursuit of a well-chosen goal, and by finding whatever connections between us as we may, we make it exciting and enjoyable. The point is that we can be ourselves -- and change the world.