Natural Ethics: Katrina Thralls

In the book, “50 Philosophy Ideas You Really Need to Know” many different ethical positions are discussed. One of particular interest to this class is the naturalist, who “believes that ethical concepts can be explained or analysed purely in terms of ‘facts of nature’ that are discoverable by science, most often facts about human psychology such as pleasure.” If this is true, nature can explain all of what people call “right” or “wrong” in our world. This is a strong counterargument to those who think you cannot have ethics without a god. On the other hand, can we really allow ourselves to be run by nature? Is our nature any better than the cruelty of the wilderness? Should we allow ourselves to harm others in order to further or own safety, well-being, and genes? Can you really even call that ethics?