DominicBunnell
New
OK, let's assume for the sake of argument that people who've had NDEs have been told the truth about ethics and the meaning of life. Apparently, they're often told that we should love everybody unconditionally.
The first problem is, the idea that we should all just love each other is incredibly vague. What does it mean to love each other? Does it mean we should stop people from having abortions or give people the freedom to have abortions? Does it mean we should kill everybody quickly and painlessly so they can go on to the afterlife or focus on maximizing happiness and well-being in this life? What we mean by 'love other people' or 'act in a loving way towards others' will change depending on our world-view and metaphysics. Just saying 'love each other' doesn't really give us any guidance. I'm not even sure whether the word 'love' has any meaning unless there's a world-view there in the background.
As for the idea of unconditional love, this is extremely controversial. Some religious thinkers, and some secular philosophers like Peter Singer, have argued that we should 'love' everybody equally and give away most of our money to the poor in Africa. But other people, including me, would say that we have special obligations to our family and friends and that we should put them first. If we felt that the suffering and happiness of distant strangers was just as important as the suffering and happiness of those close to us, then arguably there would be no more friendship, family or community. So it seems to me that unconditional love is unethical, though I do agree that we should be doing a lot more to help the poorest people in the world.
Some people seem to think that we can just bypass philosophy and get our ethics directly from these extraordinary experiences. I disagree.
The first problem is, the idea that we should all just love each other is incredibly vague. What does it mean to love each other? Does it mean we should stop people from having abortions or give people the freedom to have abortions? Does it mean we should kill everybody quickly and painlessly so they can go on to the afterlife or focus on maximizing happiness and well-being in this life? What we mean by 'love other people' or 'act in a loving way towards others' will change depending on our world-view and metaphysics. Just saying 'love each other' doesn't really give us any guidance. I'm not even sure whether the word 'love' has any meaning unless there's a world-view there in the background.
As for the idea of unconditional love, this is extremely controversial. Some religious thinkers, and some secular philosophers like Peter Singer, have argued that we should 'love' everybody equally and give away most of our money to the poor in Africa. But other people, including me, would say that we have special obligations to our family and friends and that we should put them first. If we felt that the suffering and happiness of distant strangers was just as important as the suffering and happiness of those close to us, then arguably there would be no more friendship, family or community. So it seems to me that unconditional love is unethical, though I do agree that we should be doing a lot more to help the poorest people in the world.
Some people seem to think that we can just bypass philosophy and get our ethics directly from these extraordinary experiences. I disagree.