Sam Harris - Moral Landscape -- Groks Science Show interview

The Moral Landscape -- Groks Science Show 2010-10-20

Morality is often viewed as being outside the domain of scientific inquiry, but is an objective understanding of morality possible? On this program, Sam Harris discussed the Moral Landscape.

Read the book!

http://www.samharris.org/

http://www.project-reason.org/

http://grokscience.wordpress.com/

Category:

Education

Tags:

• science
• morality
• philosophy
• moral landscape groks
• sam harris atheism
• god
• values
• secularism
• author
• book
• new atheism christianity
• debate

[ThePartyOfOne]

skip to 1:43

[brunodemoura]

This man is a true genius!

[foneyop]

in 100 years Sam Harris will be regarded as the father of western morality and ethics.

[Enoch2]

@HC101 Well, when I went back to university and got a degree in biology and religious studies, I had opportunity to discover that the true God is the God of the Bible and Jesus really is His Son. I studied in a secular environment but I subjected the 'scholarly opinions' to skepticism--and found them to be without substance. Evolution has a foundation of sand.

Just like 'Osiris'--most people who think stuff like that get their notions from youtube videos.

All the facts say JESUS IS THE TRUTH.

[HumanChemistry101]

@Enoch2 I understand that many people never got the memo that Jesus is a pure re-write of the Osiris mummy resurrection story. Can you explain to me what it is that keeps you from questioning your own belief system? What is the main thing that holds you to your belief in Jesus? Said another way, what is the main thing that science can't explain (in your mind) that holds you to belief in the Bible?

[Enoch2]

@HC101 Jesus is the truth, moral and otherwise. However, we can not live up to His standard. This is why many reject Him, because they cannot make themselves like Him and then pride makes them not want to admit that they fall short of His glory. However, the Gospel is not 'make yourself like Jesus' but BELIEVE on Jesus--His death for our sins, His burial, and His Resurrection. They you will be born of the Spirit, which means His Spirit will dwell in you and He lives His goodness through you.

[Enoch2]

I find the name of this show interesting. To 'grok' means to immediately perceive something as it is in truth. It was invented by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein, in his book "Stranger in a Strange Land." This comes from the Bible: "And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land." Exodus 2:21-22

[HumanChemistry101]

@jsampras3 Have you actually read Harris’ book? He makes many good points, but all-in-all his morality system is baseless, with loose conjectures about aiming for the greatest well being in the sum of all human activity. His interview comment “we know certain moral truths” is fallacious. There is no list of known moral truths.

The only thing we know for certain is that the Lewis inequality for natural processes governs human existence and determines morality (see: Goethe's moral symbols).

[jsampras3]

@HumanChemistry101 So you're ok with throwing battery acid in the faces of little girls? Or you don't think it can possibly be criticized?

It doesn't matter what they THOUGHT. More than 50% of Americans don't believe in Evolution. Does this make biology any less valid? What about Chemistry? I'm sure there are people who don't think water is 2 parts hydrogen 1 part oxygen. They are wrong, and we tell them so.

People like you are the reason we need people like Sam to write books like he does.

[VictorEchoNovember79]

@johnclavis good advice! I have it too and I thought he did a great job

[83javasea]

Pure genius.

[HumanChemistry101]

Re: 4:35 “we know certain moral truths even before we go into the lab, e.g. that life under the Taliban in Afghanistan is not a way of maximizing human well being”, this is the scientific method? I commend Harris for digging into this issue, but this is hardly the scientific method. Throwing battery acid into a child’s face is amoral according to what physical science? Whoever threw the acid obviously thought they were acting morally according to their morality system.