A NEW ASSUMPTION

For the purposes of this chapter it will be useful to introduce a new assumption, one I have not made prior to this point: We know that naturalism is true. It is important to see that this claim is introduced only as an assumption. My purpose here is not to argue for the truth of naturalism, but rather to examine some of the consequences for ethics of naturalism being true – and not just being true but being known to be true. The central topic of this chapter is ethical character.

What sort of character one ought to strive to inculcate in oneself and others depends in part on what one knows about the nature of the universe. Being an ethically good person is, in part, a matter of being properly oriented toward the universe. A trait that would be a virtue in one kind of universe might well be a vice in another, and vice versa. In this chapter I try to describe some virtues in a universe in which naturalism is known to be true.

THE FALL OF MAN: PRIDE AND DISOBEDIENCE

The Christian universe is a hierarchical one with a distinct pecking order: God at the top, down through the various orders of angels, human beings, and animals. Each being has a particular station and role to play.