Civilized society is an interesting concept. Social animals thrive by cooperating with each other for everyone’s benefit. Foundational ethical behaviors include not harming each other, protecting each other, and helping each other. Then, there are social norms, such as wearing clothing, saying, “Hello,” to people you know when you see them, and...
Read MoreIt’s the most famous ethic in all of human history and the one that guides good decision making when interacting with others in most situations: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Also known as the Golden Rule, it is a moral foundation for interacting with other
Read MoreI went to the gym about a month and a half ago and forgot my key card to scan in. For years, I have simply walked up to the counter, smiled, scanned my card, and walked into the locker room to put my back in a locker. One of the ladies at the counter said, “It’s okay, you can go in.” A month and a half later, I am waving and saying, “Hello,”...
Read MoreA big question on the internet—especially between the religious and atheist communities—is where morality comes from. The debate stems from the fact that the former think that you need religion/God to have morality and the latter think it comes from not wanting to hurt people. But, from my research for the book, The Meaning of Life: A guide to...
Read MorePerforming an unethical act for others’ benefit does not make it right. However, this is a difficult ethical conundrum because it is the ultimate “ends justify the means” argument when you’re doing something wrong because someone needs it. This is the “would you steal a loaf of bread to feed your family” kind of situation that most people would...
Read More“I know my worth.” “All humans have value.” “What is this property value?” “Of what value are you to me?” One of the biggest challenges with language is that the same word can mean several different things, and several different words can mean approximately the same thing. As such, the word “value” is used a lot when discussing relationships,...
Read MoreThis is a difficult post because, ironically, my intentions for it might not lead to the outcome that I desire. Which is, not coincidentally, the point of this post: good intentions don’t always result in the best outcome possible. They can help, but—and if you’ve read my posts emotions, you already know this—when combined with the wrong beliefs,...
Read MoreEvery organism is biologically wired to behave in ways that have a good probability of survival. Whether by design (i.e., a higher power) or simple, random chance (i.e., “the ones that were not wired that way are dead”), organisms have certain instinctual behaviors that they perform to survive, grow, and reproduce. From beavers building dams to...
Read MoreThere’s an interesting conflict in recommendations from others around honesty: people will tell you to be honest or deceptive depending on what leads to the best outcome. Now, for those of you who have read The Meaning of Life: A guide to finding your life’s purpose or previous blog posts on the honesty ethic, that will not be a surprise since...
Read MoreWhat matters? It seems like a simple question. But here’s the thing: people every day ask themselves what they want in life or how they can find more meaning in life and never really face that question. They often end up looking around at what other people like and following them. With that approach, they had better hope that they like the same...
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