CPBD 003: Alonzo Fyfe – Morality without God
For today’s episode of Conversations from the Pale Blue Dot, I interview Alonzo Fyfe, who completely changed the way I think about morality with this very interview. We discuss:
- morality without gods
- the failure of atheistic ethics
- moral values that really exist
- how to tell if something is right or wrong
I also answer another listener question: “As an atheist, have you ever felt really grateful about your life, but then, not had anyone to thank? Isn’t that kind of depressing?”
Download CPBD episode 003 with Alonzo Fyfe. Total time is 54:28.
Links related to the interview:
- Alonzo’s website
- Alonzo’s blog, Atheist Ethicist
- Alonzo’s book, A Better Place: Selected Essays on Desire Utilitarianism
- Alonzo’s book, A Perspective on the Pledge
- Alonzo’s free book, Desire Utilitarianism: An Atheist’s Quest for Moral Truth
- Alonzo’s free novel, which illustrates many of his philosophical views, The Cult of Justice and Will
- Alonzo’s interview with the Infidel Guy
- Richard Chappell’s summary of Desire Utilitarianism
Let me know what you think about the interview, and submit your own questions for me to answer on the show!
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excellent interview, interesting moral theory, i look forward to learning more, thanks
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Thanks for this one luke. I think I found your site via Alonzo’s, but I’m no longer sure where I started finding the desire utilitarian stuff a few weeks ago (I think it might have been related to Alonzo’s post on Desire Utilitarianism vs Political Libertarianism, but I’m really not sure). I’m looking forward to listening to the second interview with Alonso on my drive home today.
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Thanks for your site, and for leading me to Alonzo’s work.
Regarding the “ask the atheist” question at the end… I often want to thank those who helped build the world in which we now live. The enquiring minds who discovered and perfected the germ theory of disease, vaccinations, placebo controlled trials, electronics, communications, the theories all these are built on, and the various industrial technologies by which my life is enriched in thousands of ways every day.
And I figure the best way to thank them is to contribute to the process – expanding the boundaries of knowledge, helping to make things less wrong in the future, and trying to make sure others fully appreciate the difference they’ve made.
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I am an error-theorist about morality, so I fully agree with Alonzo on the failures of traditional moral systems, whereas atheistic or religious, and I also believe we should base our ethic on our desires.
Unlike Alonzo however, I don’t think this would lead us to moral realism, but rather to a ‘revisioned’ moral discourse which exludes the existence of moral facts.
I have posted a long thread on the same blog about this subject, if someone is interested and has the time to read it, it is situated at:
http://commonsenseatheism.com/?p=127#comment-28334
completely at the end !
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