Simon Blackburn - The Great Debate: Can Science Tell us Right From Wrong? (6)

The Great Debate

On November 6th, 2010 a panel of renowned scientists, philosophers, and public intellectuals gathered to discuss what impact evolutionary theory and advances in neuroscience might have on traditional concepts of morality. If human morality is an evolutionary adaptation and if neuroscientists can identify specific brain circuitry governing moral judgment, can scientists determine what is, in fact, right and wrong? The panelists were psychologist Steven Pinker, author Sam Harris, philosopher Patricia Churchland, physicist Lawrence Krauss, philosopher Simon Blackburn, bioethicist Peter Singer and The Science Network's Roger Bingham.

Recorded live at the Arizona State University Gammage auditorium.

"The Great Debate" was sponsored by the ASU Origins Project in collaboration with the ASU Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law Center for Law, Science and Innovation; the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge; and The Science Network.

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Simon Blackburn is the Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Trinity College. He is also a visiting distinguished research professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Blackburn has written extensively on the philosophy of mind, language and psychology. Among his latest works are "Practical Tortoise Raising and Other Philosophical Essays," "The Big Questions: Philosophy" and "How to Read Hume."

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Simon Blackburn
• Philosophy
• moral
• values
• morality
• humanism

[panther451]

Yo, why was my post removed? That's stupid; it had a bunch of thumps up. So much for a sensible YouTube discourse; not that I should be surprised really.

[nondescriptman]

@panther451 if you think you had a post removed, which is not the case, why don't you enlighten us and repost it?

[TomFynn]

Finally! A debate about ethics, morals and science, where *all* participants have something genuinely interesting to say and you don't have to suffer the usual white noise from the religionists.

[smuggecko]

some great inforamtion here thanks

[oliskies1]

this guy is coming to my school in one month, i hope i get to see his presentation.

[jayejayeee]

you have some great stuff here

[ProfitMuhammed]

simon blackbum

[shellybirdy]

some great inforamtion here thanks

[jayejayeee]

great video thanks

[vashcerom]

I think that it is most likely that Sam was putting all intelligent reasoning, rationality and his evolutionary evidence on the same side as science, as opposed to religion, as the basis for determining right from wrong. I say this based on other conversations Sam has had on the subject. In this case Simon probably agrees with him in entirety, and so do I.

[FIGHTFANNERD3]

should we create a new religion without believing in a god

[ColdFrixion]

@ladyvanda Science cannot prove such base assumptions. For example, is the belief that "charity is good" or "slapping a stranger is bad" based on faith or empirical evidence?