Many young people view traditional values as outdated. But what if we could demonstrate how those “old” values complement new science?
This journal article from Margaret Somerville explores how both traditional and progressive thinkers value “respect for the natural” in ethical decision-making.
Some time ago, I came to the conclusion that we were wasting our time trying to convince many young people that certain so-called “progressive values” were unethical or even just a bad idea for individuals and society, and that some “traditional values” merited reconsideration. Those who rejected these latter values saw them as having nothing good to offer, indeed, even harmful, entirely passé, outmoded, and superseded by the unprecedented discoveries of our new science. I proposed that we needed to take a new positive approach in communicating traditional values that saw what the new science revealed about the natural and Nature, including ourselves, as amazing, wondrous, and awesome. In short, I argued that, viewed correctly, new science and many old values were complementary, not in opposition.
Read the full paper in CPOSAT.
More From the Journal
