Science and Morality

Science and the Concepts of "Right" and "Wrong"

Many people argue that moral concepts allowing us to distinguish between right and wrong come from religion, humanities, philosophy, law, and ethics -- but not science. Science, they argue, does not deal with morality because it does not make any value judgment. According to them, science can only tell what is possible but not what is right or wrong. And even some scientists hold on to this position. For example, in an essay critiquing the concept of "scientific morality," Sean Carroll, a theoretic physicist, argues that you cannot derive "ought" from "is" because "science deals with empirical reality -- with what happens in the world, i.e. what 'is,'" and that is it (Carroll). But I argue here that science indeed can help us make wise and moral judgments because it forces us to accept facts and reality rather than...
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