Toward a System of Morality

I have to admit that I’ve been having a hard time with mapping out my system of morality since I have left religious life. Sam Harris claims that science itself can give us direction in terms of what is right and what is wrong, but I haven’t been able to agree with him. Science can inform us about the how of the world around us, but I cannot understand how he draws conclusions from science about the oughts of our lives. (See post scriptum below.)

A Christian recently posted something about knowing “to choose the good and reject the bad” on Facebook. This quote is pulled from Isaiah 7, which talks about the fall of Ephraim (Israel) and Samaria to the Assyrian Empire before “Emmanuel” learned “to choose the good and reject the bad.” It seems to me that this passage is not about choosing moral good over moral bad (that is, “evil”) but rather about learning to discern between types of food, what is good (delicious and healthy) and what is bad (bland and lacking in nourishment).