4 ms·
To me, science can be a tool to achieve a moral end. Science can even clarify moral positions. For example, the revelations of neuroscience strongly support a m
by DubiousPusher 4y ago
To me, science can be a tool to achieve a moral end. Science can even clarify moral positions. For example, the revelations of neuroscience strongly support a moral position of humility. But in the end, our morals have to come from somewhere else.
I really hated during the pandemic how people moralized the science. I don't mean to say the science was ambiguous. It largely was not. But the, "I believe science" memes were a deceptive appeal to find morality somewhere we shouldn't. The moral position for wearing masks was not dependent on the certainty that they work. It depended on a willingness to subdue one's own will for the good of all.
I'm not saying that across the board the collective is the higher moral obligation. Collective vs. individual is a moral area that must be carefully weighed. For me, the clarifying question when suborning one's will to the collective is, "what if they are wrong vs what if I am wrong".
In the case of mask wearing, if they were wrong, there's relatively little harm. 24 months of off and on, minor discomfort. That is something for which, when weighed against the advice of experts is worth submitting over.