📰The Moral Baseline
The absence of a baseline of human motivation constants has bedeviled the social sciences from the very beginning of their explorations to understand and identify the motivations that cause people to behave as they do…
Introduction
The absence of a baseline of human motivation constants has bedeviled the social sciences from the very beginning of their explorations to understand and identify the motivations that cause people to behave as they do, individually and collectively.
As most of us have wondered and then speculated, “What are the causes for such behavior?” Here, again, the intellectual approach for discovering those causes is a trap the ancient Grecian philosophers, and social scientists in the last 250 years, fell into.
That question is usually followed by statements of speculation. Dr. Abraham Maslow, who proposed his famous theory of human motivation, stated that humans have needs and drives that motivate them to act as they do. Maslow’s theory was a magnificent, if not profound, breakthrough for the field of psychology, but incomplete as he suggested. What he was unaware of at the time were the genetic instructions of human motivation.
An Introduction
For more than two millennia, philosophers and social theorists have debated the foundations of ethics and morality. In this introduction to his forthcoming manuscript, The Moral Baseline, Daniel Raphael proposes that the search has overlooked a more fundamental source. Rather than beginning with abstract philosophical theories, he argues that ethical decision-making emerges from the innate motivational structure of the human person itself.
Whether readers ultimately agree with his conclusions or not, Daniel’s work represents one of the foundational streams informing the Center for Planetary Management’s exploration of values-based governance, design teams, and sustainable civilizations. We invite you to engage these opening pages as an introduction to a much larger body of work.
Continue Reading
This excerpt introduces the central question behind Daniel Raphael’s work. In the complete manuscript, he develops the concept of the “Moral Baseline,” explores its relationship to ethics, morality, and human motivation, and considers applications for governance, education, organizational development, artificial intelligence, and the Design Team Process.
Read the complete manuscript:
Continue the Conversation
The future is shaped through thoughtful dialogue.
If this article has been meaningful to you, share the official Planetary Pulse link with someone who may also enjoy exploring these ideas.