What counterassertions can be made to Stephen Jay Gould's view that nature is nonmoral in his essay?

Question

Gould's view is that "it just plain happens." What counter assertions can be made based on his essay Nonmoral Nature?

Answer 1

Gould states in his essay:
"Our failure to discern a universal good does not record any lack of insight or ingenuity, but merely demonstrates that nature contains no moral messages framed in human terms. Morality is a subject for philosophers, theologians, students of the humanities, indeed for all thinking people. The answers will not be read passively from nature; they do not, and cannot, arise from the data of science. The factual state of the world does not teach us how we, with our powers for good and evil, should alter or preserve it in the most ethical manner"

All that means is that nature itself is not moral ("Red in Tooth and Claw" as Tennyson stated in "In Memoriam A.H.H.") - not that "it just plain happens".

Morality is the preserve of sentience - and presumably, therefore, the exclusive province of humanity.
There are no *scientific* counterassertions that can be made, but there are certainly philosophical and religious assertions that could be made with respect to humanity's role as part of nature. However - Gould made those himself in the essay.

Answer 2

I'm inclined to agree with Pf Cow. It's a good compromise, considering neither religion or science are going away any time soon, so we better figure out how to make them live with each other. That being said, if science and religion both try to explain the same thing (such as the origin of the universe), then there will be an overlap. I don't see any way around that. I am not familiar with Gould's full argument, so maybe I am missing something.

Answer 3

"It just happens" means that there is no intelligence behind nature. Only intelligence can be moral. So any counterassertion that you can make would involve intelligence behind nature, ie a creator. This question would probably get the answer you are looking for in the Religion section.

Answer 4

"Moral" is an ambiguous word. It means all different kinds of things in all different societies and religions. It usually means whatever the ruling cliche says it does.

In the natural world, it is quite meaningless.