There is No Objective Morality, but there are Objective Moral Principles.

The question “is there an objective morality,” is deeply flawed. It is however an easy mistake that most make.

Morality is an entire system similar to mathematics or science, and you don’t see the same question being asked of either. Yet rational agents don’t dispute that there are objective mathematical and scientific principles. To give an example, I point out that Euler’s conjecture on Graeco-Latin squares, and A. M. Legendre’s claim that 6 is not the sum of 2 rational cubes were both proven to be false. There are many unproven mathematical formulas but we don’t generally say the field is not objective, or that it is “subjective.”

I’ve already argued previously the crippling problem with treating this subject with binary logic: objective vs subjective, true vs false or 1 vs 0.

IMO, it’s far more useful to ask whether there are objective moral principles. We also have to distinguish between an “intensional” definition of morality vs an “extensional,” whereby we merely point to an example. In essence I’m saying we ought to put a stake in the ground by first intensionally defining what we mean by morality (including its actions and attributes) and THEN extensionally pointing to an instance as proof.

So my morality concept consists of a definition, and a purpose. I then create an instance by assigning values to the aforementioned:

“Morality is an informal contract whereby rational agents unanimously, voluntarily and equally enter into an agreement to gain net value.”

“The ultimate goal of morality is the good life.”

I then proceed to instantiate a moral proposition as such:

“It is bad to be murdered.”

Within the scope of my declared intensional definition, and my instantiated extensional example, I believe I’ve shown how you can have an objective moral principle.

About Cecil (CJ) John

CJ is an Architect, and Computer Scientist, and the inventor of the world’s first blockchain-enabled digital workplace. Probably. In 2019, he caught the attention of Microsoft, who awarded his company with the highly coveted status of Microsoft Managed Partner. As a philanthropic endeavor, CJ is the founder of the John Charitable Trust, a 501(c)3 foundation.

CJ is the CEO of virtualdeveloper.com, LLC, an IT technology firm based in the USA that has worked with some of the largest organizations in the world, including the World Bank, IMF, US Federal Government, Deloitte Consulting, and Ernst & Young.

In 2020, CJ published the well reviewed book The Social Currency — Why we Ought to Rethink Money. CJ is a regular writer on the blogging platform Medium.