If I had to sum up the essence of my latest booklet, Ethics for the 21st Century: Keys to the good life, in a few words it would be these:
As a human species, we are each prewired to aim for our personal benefit. This could be referred to as ‘a universal aim of ethics.’ The question then becomes: What best provides us this benefit? How do we gain it? Can science offer any answers?
In pursuit of that primary aim we all yearn for meaning: how can we make sense out of our existence? We aim for a quality life; we want to make a difference; we want life to be meaningful.
We want the security that comes with peace instead of constant threat, instead of excessive stress, and violence, and conflict that borders on violence - for this wears us down and ages us prematurely. We flourish when we experience joy, serenity and peace of mind.
We want some recognition, some attention [even if we think we can attain it by arguing “My mother is better than your mother !” …or by 'putting someone down" so that we may feel superior to another. There are many ignorant ways we seek to find meaning when we don’t know our Ethics.]
…to be continued…