A Conversation On Ethics With Prof. Eric Schwitzgebel - The Dan Norton Show #5

Experiments to determine if ethics professors behave differently than others. Non-alignment between beliefs and actions in ethics professors vs. others. Altruism as a cause of non-alignment. Aiming for moral mediocrity. Why is it morally admirable to give your kidney to a stranger? How are ethical questions decided? Utilitarianism/egoism--how to decide between them? Ayn Rand’s metaethics. What gives rise to values? Being a living organism? Being a member of a society? What’s good for society vs. what’s good for the individual--is there a conflict? Are morality and self-interest opposed? Reason and emotion’s role in justifying what’s ethical. The relation of reason and emotion. Historical evidence against/for evolutionarily built-in altruism (ancient Greece and China). Linguistically settling what’s “moral.” What gives rise to the concept “good” or “value”? Is one’s life at the root of all values? Is one’s consciousness? A thought experiment from Mencius. Is valuing of others rooted in valuing of oneself?