Do you think that the universe acts ethically?

Question

It seems frequently indifferent - do ethics actually exist as part of the universe, or are they exclusively a human invention?

Answer 1

I would prefer to say that ethics are part of the human condition rather than an human "invention;" even our chimp and gorilla relatives have behaviors which are defined by our standards as "ethical."
However I would also point out that ethics is also STRICTLY a sentient-creature's experience [trying not to generate semantic contradiction by saying sentient-creature]. Natural Laws and everything else of the universe (as far as our limited human understanding can grasp them) do not operate or have the function of ethics. Thus it APPEARS -{forget thee not the differences between appearance and reality}- that the universe is as Sir Thomas Hobbes put it, "nasty [and] brutish."
But don't jump to conclusions just yet! Transcendental conceptualizations {whether referred to as [God], Ultimate Reality, Great Spirit/Mystery, Buddha-dhatu "Buddha Nature," Cosmic Energy, Brahman, Being/Ground of Being or whatever}, in being categorized as "Transcendent" are just that. What most people fail to realize is that means, now to use Nietzsche's words, "beyond good and evil." That which is Transcendent, which to petty humans could just be the totality of the cosmos in-and-of-itself, is above and beyond all of our "categories of understanding;" beyond all opposites - which are purely human perceptions: good/evil, right/wrong, this/that, man/woman, god/man, god/nature, nature/man, I/Other, etc...

Answer 2

The universe is indifferent. I give it too much control even using the word indifferent. It acts according to the laws of nature, elements interacting with each other. Ethics are a man made creation.

Answer 3

Ethics are logical systems for values-based decision making. Values are the answers to the question of what is important from a particular point of view. The universe does not have a point of view, or values. It functions according to its nature - so-called "natural laws" (which are really just descriptive of what it does, in fact, do).

Our most basic values & ethics can be conceived of as part of the nature of the world. Because we're part of the world, and we have a point of view, so we must have values; and because we are social by nature, we must have ethics. But values are "about" a human perspective - they need one. So ethics don't logically apply to the function of the world beyond our behavior.

Answer 4

The Universe acts as it acts...humanity fools itself into believing that it might obey our feeble dictates.

All attempts at understanding or describing the manner in which the Univers acts are human 'inventions' (though I personally think that 'observations' is a much more apt term...humanity can't very well 'invent' what is beyond our grasp. only continue with new descriptions of the observable)

Science and many would-be philosophers readily engage in bandying about mere terms of description of observable phenomena as though they were irrefutable and absolute...but the universe continues to act as it acts. It has no regard for man's dictates.

I wonder if the Universe has the capacity to appreciate the humor in such human arrogance?

Answer 5

Ethics are soley a human construct. Remove the existence of humans from the system, and the system will funtion through natural drives and tensions. The lion who kills the gazelle is not acting ethically nor is it acting unethically; it is merely acting on instinct and attempting to survive.

Answer 6

Absolutely indifferently to ethics.

The survivors of the great meteor and volcano extinctions were not survivors because they were "really useful" moral organisms.

The universe doesn't care.
Even in the bible the collapsing tower of Siloam didn't hit the worst sinners in Jerusalem.
It is not observed that the most deserving people win national lotteries.

Answer 7

I see the universe like natures wildlife Where an animal needs to survive at all costs so does a galaxy . or a black hole .

Answer 8

the universe works on finding a balance between enthropy and enthalpy... you can call it ethics, you can call it the golden mean and you can call it physics... it is basically very unbiased.

Answer 9

Keith M said it...