From Pax Scientia

Philosophy: One True Morality

Optimizing Normative Experiences (ONE) Through Realizing Universal Eudaimonia (TRUE)

Optimizing Normative Experiences (ONE) Through Realizing Universal Teleological Happiness (TRUTH)

Definitions:

• Information:
  • A form of order that is capable of different qualities or states.
• Truth:
  • A persistent and consistent quality or state of information.
• Existence:
  • The state of being truth.
• Universe:
  • A state containing all truths.
• Event:
  • An identifiable change in the universe.
• Object:
  • Any existence with unique properties that allows it to be identified as separate from another instance of its classification.
• Environment:
  • A collection of known objects in the universe that can interact.
• Experience:
  • An event occurring in an environment that affects an object.
• Normative:
  • Anything that can be judged to be either positive or negative by any subject.
• Value:
  • A normative truth.
• Subject:
  • An object capable of assigning sentient values based on information received from sensory or perceptual input from its environment.
• Action:
  • An event that is caused by a particular object.
• Actor:
  • An object capable of taking actions that cause changes to its environment.
• Agent:
  • A subject that is also an actor, which usually outputs actions to the environment in response to input events from the environment.
• Body:
  • The physical matter/energy structure of an object that can receive experiences. Subjects generally receive input from their body’s sensory organs. Actor’s actions are caused through manipulation of this physical structure.
• Mind:
  • The collection of information that is generated by a subject processing input events and which decides on output actions.
• Idea:
  • A hypothetical truth that may or may not actually exist outside of an agent’s mind.
• Beliefs:
  • A set of ideas that an agent considers to be truths.
• Will:
  • A set of ideas that the agent wants to be truths based on its values.
• Intention:
  • An idea of the will that causes an action.
• Goal:
  • An intention towards a specific event in the environment.
• Purpose:
  • The set of ideas that relate an agent’s will to an object. This can include other subjects including oneself.
• Teleological:
  • Having a purpose assigned.
• Happiness:
  • A positive normative state.
• Eudaimonia:
  • Teleological happiness. Essentially when an agent is acting according to its purpose.

Assertion 1: Morality is truth. It is objective in so far as it describes real facts about the world. It is subjective in the sense that it is concerned with the subjective experiences of sentient beings, in particular their positive and negative conscious experiences, which can be referred to as the normative experiences of subjects.

Assertion 2: Morality is optimization. Given that some normative experiences are by definition experienced to be better than others, it is rational to try to maximize positive ones and minimize negative ones. This optimal state is universal Eudaimonia aka teleological happiness.

Assertion 3: Morality is purpose. The meaning of life is a normative question. It asks, what we should do with the opportunity of life, and the limited resources we have access to in this universe. Morality answers this question by telling us the correct course of actions, given the information we have, is to attempt to achieve the optimal normative state of universal Eudaimonia aka teleological happiness.

Assertion 4: Morality is universal. The optimal state of the universe is one in which all subjects achieve Eudaimonia aka teleological happiness.