One of my favourite topics that you cover is your interpretation of the story of Cain & Abel. You’ve said that: “Before a creature becomes self-conscious there is no distinction between good and evil... With the dawning of self-consciousness, there seems to be the emergence of a moral sense that’s essentially unique to human beings.”
You’ve referenced in another video the phenomenon of wolves exhibiting something to the effect of mercy when an alpha ‘defeats’ a wolf that contests his position as the pack leader. Do you think that what appears to be this sort of ‘moral compass’ in wolf culture is then an emergent property of self-consciousness? Or, perhaps, something more like proto-rationality? Neither? What do you think this phenomenon says about human morality considering we often attribute our morality to our rationality (perhaps incorrectly)?
letstrythisagain8136 karma
Hey Jordan.
One of my favourite topics that you cover is your interpretation of the story of Cain & Abel. You’ve said that: “Before a creature becomes self-conscious there is no distinction between good and evil... With the dawning of self-consciousness, there seems to be the emergence of a moral sense that’s essentially unique to human beings.”
You’ve referenced in another video the phenomenon of wolves exhibiting something to the effect of mercy when an alpha ‘defeats’ a wolf that contests his position as the pack leader. Do you think that what appears to be this sort of ‘moral compass’ in wolf culture is then an emergent property of self-consciousness? Or, perhaps, something more like proto-rationality? Neither? What do you think this phenomenon says about human morality considering we often attribute our morality to our rationality (perhaps incorrectly)?
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