The Chronicle of the Worthy Son

The Question of Ethics

When Able descended the staircase late that morning, he stopped like an idiot at the sight of Lark lying on the parlor couch, his hair draped over the arm of it and his silvery skirt pooling onto the floor. And propped on his chest, an open book.

"Now this is a surprise." Able couldn't help but smile.

Lark looked up from his book, so far up that he was looking at Able upside down over the couch arm. "Can't keep me down too long."

"No." Able came around so Lark wouldn't have to crane his neck so and clarified, "I didn't think you could read."

"Hey!" Lark gaped, then broke out in laughter, which he then suppressed with a wince and a few coughs. "I'll have you know I find reading very enjoyable...when I can't do much else."

"Sounds about right." Able eased into a chair across from him. "What book is it, then?"

"Uh," and Lark flipped back to the title page. "A Rational Foundation by—"

"Well Thymehill," Able finished, eyebrows raised. "That's funny. I was just talking about moral skepticism the other day."

"Moral what, now?"

"Skepticism. The philosophical idea that moral knowledge is impossible."

"What?" Lark's expression grew vacant.

"Well, what did you think you had been reading?"

"A lot of big, unhelpful words," Lark said as he flipped back to his place, "about, uhm...apparent dialectical justifications for moral positions come from a, uh, an appeal to ignorance...or something. I think."

"Right. What he's saying is that when someone claims moral facts, they can only claim them from the standpoint that it's true because you cannot prove it is not true. This is not an objective argument and in fact, we see incompatible moral facts from different advocates throughout history, and none can be proven as true or false. You cannot, objectively, claim something exists because there is no proof it doesn't, nor can you claim it doesn't exist because there is no proof it does. Given that there is no convergence of moral facts within cultures, let alone cross-culturally, and no claims to moral facts can disprove the others, the skeptic concludes that no claims to moral facts are objective."

"What?" But Lark's expression was different this time, reminiscent of breaking day. "So...that means that no one, with any true certainty, can claim right or wrong?"

"Yes." Able's pupal heart fell into his stomach and emerged a butterfly. "With no objective certainty, that is. You cannot prove correct ethical choices by numbers the way you might certainly define other properties in nature."

"Sooo..." Lark's eyes darted around in excited thought a moment. "So what do you call feelings of right and wrong, then? If not certainty?" And he'd apologized for being stupid that night in the woods.

Well, now he could see Able nodding encouragingly, at least. "Right, holding with the claim that there is no objective morality, all morality is subjective in nature. So then feelings and sentiments springing either from the self or cultivated by society are solely responsible for our ideas of morality, which, again, cannot be objectively proven."

Lark started nodding himself after another spell of thinking "You know, I've noticed that? Some people have a stronger inner guide while others look for outward approval."

"That's the basis of ethical subjectivism..." By this point, the butterfly was battering around inside looking for an escape, so Able changed the subject before he couldn't take it anymore. "How did you come by that book, anyway?"