Politics and Science

  It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the other ones. I think that is true of US hegemony. US hegemony can be awful, except for any other country’s hegemony. For example, withdrawing from the Kyoto Accords, which were attempting to address the climate crisis early, and torturing captives during the Global War on Terror are two examples of US blunders on the international stage. While US leadership isn’t perfect, it is preferable to any of the other countries. Many of the countries that might seek to supplant the US are even worse in many ways. It is imperative that the US act with its allies, to build consensus and address issues. Since the US is the most powerful country, it is necessarily the least innocent country. Since the US is the most powerful country on Earth, it is therefore strongly in the US interest to maintain its moral authority, and image of benevolence and gentleness.          ...

I am deeply troubled by one question. How do I know what I say or do is the morally correct thing? Although it is cliché, I am bothered by Hitler. How do I know that I am not Hitler? On the other hand, how do I know that I am not infinitely good? Because of what Hitler did, and it was so awful, and presumably he thought he was doing the right thing, how do I know whether or not I am also mistaken? From this example, it should be clear that moral knowledge about right and wrong is not just about me feeling correct or righteous, there is some element of externality to it, something beyond my subjective experience. Just as I may never know whether I am Hitler or not, how do I know whether I am not racist, or sexist, or antisemitic, when people who are those things, rarely realize it?             Right and wrong is not even determined by norms. Again, in Hitler’s Weimar Republic, some awful things became normal. But that did not make th...