Ethics are those human values and behaviors which best provide the deepest regard for all other humans, and the deepest regard for all other life, recognizing that this deep regard is necessary for the fulfillment, and the survival, of our species. There are several cogent reasons why this is the correct definition of Ethics, and should be universally adopted.
Ethics are a human concern only. Only our species visualizes far into the future, plans for the future, and realizes that the choices we make in the current time will greatly affect our future comfort, accomplishments, fulfillment, and survival. We do not give animals enough credit for their day to day “human” qualities. They, as we, love deeply, nurture and educate their young, grieve deeply with the loss of a loved one. But only humans are gradually becoming aware that how we treat each other will determine not only the quality of our current lives, but whether or not we will survive as species. Good and Evil are human concepts only, and not only apply to our day to day lives, but also to our future existence.
There is no other power or entity which will provide a guide, or lead us to better behavior. Socrates believed that there was an “intrinsic goodness” in the universe, which would become imbued within us as we increased in knowledge. Our Abrahamic religions have seized upon this external goodness concept enthusiastically, anthropomorphically believing in an omniscient, omnipotent, all beneficent male figure who is leading us to be more compassionate, and to whom we should all aspire. There is no evidence, however, that this imagined being exists. The best evidence we have is that some power, of which we otherwise have no knowledge, began this universe in a big bang. Since then, there has been no interference with the events of this evolving universe, whose energy keeps interacting in marvelous and mysterious ways. Everything that we know runs on the laws of chance and probability. There is no God, or other power of any description, who will lead us to a better life. Whether or not we treat each other, and other life, well enough to survive will be entirely our doing.
All of life is bound together as one giant organism on this planet earth. All of life is dependent on other life for survival. Once created from substrate, energy and water, after 500 million years of violent earth chemistry, all of life, as species have evolved, has needed other life to survive. Trees live in symbiosis with the fungi that surround their roots, each providing nutrients and enzymes that the other does not have, in mutual benefit. We live in symbiosis with the trillions of bacteria in our gut, which provide enzymes and vitamins our livers do not provide, and protect us from invasive pathogens. A healthy gut means a healthy body. As part of that whole organism of life, we need each other. Any time any of our species is eliminated, or overgrows, there is reaction that occurs in other life, and healing that occurs, affecting all of us to some degree. When too many other creatures have been eliminated, or any species greatly overpopulates earth, human life will no longer be sustainable. Either we learn to live in harmony with and with deep respect for other life, or we will pay that ultimate price. Vengeance killing and sport killing are evil, in human terms. Any killing, other than that necessary to preserve other life, causes harm to human society.
Only those human societies whose members cooperate with each other prosper. Those who work together are able to create homes for comfort and security, buildings for businesses, water lines, sewer lines, electric lines, cables, tunnels, bridges, highways. We were able, two years ago, to send a probe to Pluto, 3.1 billion miles away, taking years to get there, and then receive back stunning photos of surface eruptions, and new knowledge never before available. None of that would have happened without the entire Pluto team working together as a community, through years of planning and execution. When we treat each other with deep respect, cooperate fully with each other, we achieve marvelous compensation, in the quality of our lives and the joys of our accomplishments. When any of our members destroy and kill, all other humans suffer. It is entirely Darwinian. Either we work together, and treat each other with immense respect, or our species goes extinct.
We have no other home. While it is statistically highly likely that there is other life in multiple sites throughout the universe, it is also nearly impossible that any of it will look like us or behave like us. Whatever combination of substrate, energy and water exists on other planets, sufficient to support life, in some form, will be different than those that exist on this planet. Our planet has a unique set of circumstances: it is situated just the right distance away from a constant nuclear blast that provides abundant energy; has a rotating iron core, producing a magnetic shield that keeps solar radiation from boiling our seas and stripping away our atmosphere; and has developed an oxygen atmosphere, all of which has led to our particular form of life, through natural selection. Any change in those conditions that exist on this planet will lead to other forms of more intelligent life, on other planets, through natural selection. It might be intelligent swarms of bees, which build fantastic civilizations of dazzling music, art and culture; it may be large pods of brilliant mathematical whales, which dominate all life on land and sea. Life has shown its capability of surviving in outlandish temperature extremes, humanly toxic acidic and alkaline chemical brews. Whatever circumstances exist on other planets sufficient to support life will be different than exist on our planet, and will produce other forms of intelligent life, totally foreign to us.
The concept that if we find a place somewhere else that will support life, and can move there after we have polluted and consumed this planet to death, is insane. There is only one place in this universe which supports our particular form of life: planet earth. Going elsewhere when this place is no longer livable is not the answer. The answer is to treat each other with the deepest of respect, treat all other life with the deepest of respect, consume only what we need, stop polluting, treat our planet with the deepest of respect. We need to live in harmony with each other and our planet, and not treat other persons, and our planet home, with disdain.
There is some hope that we can achieve this level of ethical human behavior before it is too late. More of the world governments are democracies than ever before. There is gradually increasing awareness among human populations that universal health care and universal education are basic human rights. As opposed to those factors positive for human survival, there are dire challenges to long term human survival. The dictator of Russia is destroying civilization in Ukraine. He is interested only in self-aggrandizement, and does not care about human life. Our school children and teachers are being massacred, in the places they go for nurturement. Our legislators vote for guns instead of voting for our children. Civil wars abound in multiple loci. Chemical weapons are being used in Syria. Our seas have become plastic garbage pools. Chemicals and poisons are leaching into our lakes and rivers. The fish bounty of the sea is disappearing, succumbing to overfishing and over consumption.
What will it take for deep respect for all other humans and all other life to become dominant in the human species, allowing us to survive on this cocoon planet home? A Whole lot, it appears.
The definition of Ethics as those values which produce the greatest good for the greatest number of humans, falls short. Only human values which produce the deepest respect for all of life, will allow our species to survive.