The Moral Instinct

   Stephen Pinker is a Harvard University psychologist who, in his New York Times article "The Moral Instinct" argued to some extent that morals exist as an instinct to and human survival. His argument is confusing because it almost seems as if he changes opinions multiple times and does not actually focus the essay to a single claim until the middle of the article. A possible explanation is that his purpose might have been to qualify multiple opinions rather than choosing a side which always comes down to personal beliefs, a particularly difficult subject to argue. The claim that morality exists to aid survival, a purely biological explanation, is supported by the simple fact that "people ted to align their moralization with their life styles." In Frankenstein, this is a possible explanation for the creatures display of morals and then shift in morals by the end of the story. His instinct fueled his impulse to kill everyone including himself.

    Many argue that a possible explanation for the source of morality, rather than just human instinct, is God- or some higher power. Pinker's counter argument is both logical and interesting:

    "Putting God in charge of morality is one way to solve the problem, of course, but Plato made short work of it 2,400 years ago. Does God have a good reason for designating certain acts as moral and others as immoral? If not-if his dictates are divine whims-why should we take them seriously? Suppose that God commanded us to torture a child. Would that make it all right, or would some other standard give us reasons to resist? And if, on the other hand, God was forced by moral reasons to issue some dictate and not others-if a command to torture a child was never an option- then why not appeal to those reasons directly?"

    The bottom line is that while morality can be discussed, debate is unnecessary because it seems to always boil down to personal beliefs. Pinker's purpose was not to persuade readers to conform to a new set of values but rather present multiple options for interpretation allowing the reader to decide for themselves.

("The Moral Instinct".Steven Pinker.New York Times. January 13,2008.)