Moral decay of British society
The entire British political class came together to denounce the rioters. They were right to say that the actions of these looters were abhorrent, and that the police should be given more support. But there was also something very phony and hypocritical about all the shock and outrage expressed in parliament. MPs spoke about the week’s dreadful events as if they were nothing to do with them. I cannot accept that this is the case. I believe that the criminality in our streets cannot be dissociated from the moral disintegration in the highest ranks of British society. The last two decades have seen a terrifying decline in standards among the British governing elite. It has become acceptable for our politicians to lie and to cheat. An almost universal culture of selfishness and greed has grown up.
http://rdd.me/w4r0scci
Does Anything Matter?
Can moral judgments be true or false? Or is ethics, at bottom, a purely subjective matter, for individuals to choose, or perhaps relative to the culture of the society in which one lives? We might have just found out the answer. Derek Parfit’s entirely secular arguments, and the comprehensive way in which he tackles alternative positions, have, for the first time in decades, put those who reject objectivism in ethics on the defensive. His book, On What Matters, is an intellectual treat for anyone who wants to understand not so much “what matters” as whether anything really can matter, in an objective sense. Parfit’s real interest is in combating subjectivism and nihilism. Unless he can show that objectivism is true, he believes, nothing matters.
Clean People Feel Morally Superior
A new study shows that people feel morally cleansed when they are physically clean, and as such are more inclined to judge others more harshly. The study conducted by Chen-Bo Zhong at Northwestern University found that “participants who cleansed their hands before rating the social issues judged these issues to be more morally wrong compared to those who did not cleanse their hands.” Those who had a self-image of cleanliness and purity made more harsh moral judgements on social issues. Crucially, this association was entirely mediated by their having an inflated sense of moral virtue compared with their peers. "Acts of cleanliness have not only the potential to shift our moral pendulum to a more virtuous self, but also license harsher moral judgment of others," Zhong concluded.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/08/clean-people-feel-morally-superior/
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