Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Through a Glass, Darkly

Death is what allows Cecilia, a terminally ill girl to move from seeing the world through a glass, darkly, to seeing it in the absolute clarity of God's light. In her last few weeks on earth, Ariel, the angel of death watches over her, tells her what is on the other side of the mirror, and eases her acceptance of her passage into the next life.

I wonder whether my wife's grandmother had an angel to guide her in her last months of existence. She certainly suffered a lot more that Cecilia did and really longed to take her final rest. She had visions of little angels like her grandchildren running around and playing with her as she rested, smiling and contented.

I did not have the chance to know her more. I certainly did not see the fiery side that caused her entire family to fear her and her son to call her a lioness. I only remember a sweet, old lady telling me how happy she was that her first granddaughter was successful and happily married with two kids. Her life, full of drama and heartache, is now over, but she lives on in the courage and stubbornness of my wife and son.

Inventing Right and Wrong

JL Mackie argues in Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong that there are no objective values because of metaphysical queerness and cultural relativity. Since I do not have specialized training in philosophy, I cannot rebut this argument in a sophisticated manner, but I am unconvinced that there are no moral facts just because they do not behave as physical objects, which is an observation that applies to so many other abstract ideas like numbers. Neither does cultural relativity carry much weight. Different cultures may have different moral codes, but I think there are basic expectations of human decency that are common across most, if not all, cultures such as telling the truth.

I cannot advance a meta-ethical theory that will prove the existence of objective values. I subscribe, however, to Stephen Covey's assertion that principles govern whether we follow them or not. Some consequences follow certain behaviors with nearly the same regularity as natural physical laws. If we lie, cheat or steal, we lose trust. If we tell the truth, return a favor, and remain faithful to others, we normally earn it.

Values may be queer or relative, and they may be nothing but a human invention, but they are as real as a rock.