moral intuition

I heard a lecture by Dr. J. Anderson Thomson where he talked about moral intuition. So googled it. I found some more videos of Dr. Thomson but no written work by him. I did find this quote by another group of researchers:

Philosophers use the phrase “moral intuition” to describe the appearance in consciousness of moral judgments made without any awareness of having gone through a conscious reasoning process. We propose that moral intuitions are part of a larger set of social intuitions that guide us.

end quote My eyes and ears perk up. Are morals embedded in our DNA? Are morals biological? Or are morals something embedded in our psyhe by indoctrination? Some of both perhaps. It seems a big question. The latest Philosophy Now magazine is asking if machines can be trained to be moral. Are we just machines? Are we trained (like machines) to be moral. Is there no universal morals? Only morals within a social network? I have more questions than answers, eh?

pondering the supernatural

I want to think of myself as rational. I also am open to the supernatural. Are those two thoughts inconsistent? I believe that saying that I'm open to the supernatural is NOT the same as saying that I believe in the supernatural. By saying that I'm open to the supernatural, it means that I'm willing to experiment with things that are so defined. http://www.howgravityworks.org/ Here is a quote from the above link, “Whether it’s a vested interest or Pavlovian response, they cling to their beliefs like religious zealots.” I don't want to be like that. I want to be open to possibilities. Possible ways to make the most of my life. I want to accomplish as much as possible and I want to be as happy as possible. If something called the supernatural might bring me more happiness, then I might try it. I'm not going to plunge in without caution. But I might want to give it a shot. I think perhaps I'm more practical than rational. Benjamin Franklin was a pragmatist. If it works, why not use it?