Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Can Morality be Numerically Quantified?

So, there's a new book out - "The Moral Landscape" by Sam Harris.  Let me say first that I have not read it, but it was featured on The Daily Show during an interview with the author:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-october-4-2010/sam-harris

So, I guess the question is, is it possible to quantify moral acts?  I guess in some ways we already do this with the penal and civil courts - awarding money to victims or sentencing time for criminal behaviors.  Could a working scale be developed as a means of establishing a secular moral code?  It's an interesting question - one that had never occurred to me before.  Thoughts?

1 comment:

  1. I'm sure me, Will, & Chris could help you quantify morality. With all of the RPG game play mechanics we've have to utilize for alignment systems, it should be no problem.

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