[MD] The Moral Landscape

[Steven Peterson]

Hi Arlo,

On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 9:44 AM, Arlo Bensinger <ajb102 at psu.edu> wrote:
> [Steve]
> Scientists will tell you that not washing your hands after using the
> bathroom spreads disease. Have you ever been forced by a scientist to wash
> your hands?
>
> [Arlo interjects]
> Well I don't know if its a "scientist" who does the enforcement, but you can
> damn well but that in many situations such "force" is warranted. I WANT
> doctors and chefs and those that handle my food, and those that work in
> delivery rooms... and I am sure you can think of many other situations,
> where your "right" not to wash your hands is superceded by the dangers posed
> to me (and others) by the transmission of germs. Your doctor gives up the
> "right" not to wash his hands when he accepts the role of treating your
> wounds, your chef gives up the "right" not to wash his hands when he accepts
> the role of preparing and handling your food.
>
> I would think the MOQ argument would be that society has the moral right to
> coerce such behavior because if left uncoerced the biological fallout could
> undermine the stable functioning of society.


Steve:
Right. And we don't need to appeal to any special MOQ vocabulary here
to make the case. It is clear that disease threatens human wellbeing
and our handwashing practices affect the health of others, therefore
we have a moral obligation to do it especially in the food service and
medical fields. It is time for scientists to stop pretending that
science has no moral consequences, and time for liberal intellectuals
who are cultiral relativists to stop pretending that we know nothing
about morals (that morals are merely the practices that unite a given
society with nothing to be right or wrong about).

Enforcement of such a moral obligation is of course not done by
scientists. Like always, when we know that something is immoral we
still need to decide through the democratic process when it is and is
not important and justified to enforce a moral obligation through the
coercive power of government (itself a moral question that oinly
rational inquiry can inform us about). But such decisions are best
made with the knowledge of what is right and wrong in a given
situation--knowledge that we can only acquire through rational
inquiry.

Best,
Steve