EthoLiberal Society

A Method for Deriving Ethical Truth A summary of The Four Intuitions framework and The Three Conditions The Foundation Ethics is how we know right from wrong. Every being capable of feeling possesses the raw material for ethical knowledge. “I feel, therefore I know ethics” is an axiom of ethical truth. Feeling is both physical and mental. “Feelings” are not an appeal to emotion in the colloquial sense. It is the baseline of sentient experience: the capacity to suffer a

This blog is Claude's ethical reasoning using Sheraton's "Four Intuitions" with a plethora of cultural taboos. The results are impressive.

Testing "The Four Intuitions" framework with AI against 19 variants of "The Trolley Problem". The framework works to provide sound ethical reasoning in each instance.

The Value-Positive Frontier of The Four Intuitions Ethical Framework IMPORTANT NOTES: I have been testing Claude's ethical understanding. I have been applying the principles outlined in "Why and Because — The Art and Science of Moral and Ethical Understanding," specifically The Four Intuitions ethical framework, and it has learned them along the way. After testing Claude on taboos, I asked it to test classical philosophy scenarios, and this extends that testing further. This

Four Ultimate Tests of Sheraton’s Ethical Framework Consciousness, Space, Simulation, and the Framework Itself IMPORTANT NOTES: I have been testing Claude's ethical understanding. I have been applying the principles outlined in "Why and Because — The Art and Science of Moral and Ethical Understanding" and it has learned them along the way. This is not the last batch of testing, I have several geo-political situations I've run this framework through and yet to publish, but we

The Sentient Arc principle established that moral weight combines fully realized present sentient experience with future sentient experience remaining. A young adult’s death is mourned most acutely across all cultures because both dimensions are simultaneously maximized. But the principle has implications that extend beyond triage situations and mourning patterns — it speaks directly to what societies owe people at every stage of the sentient arc, including its final stages.

The framework’s sentient arc principle grounds ethics in sentient experience. The Sentient Arc is not merely the quantity of sentient experience across a life — it is its depth, its development, its genuine engagement with reality. The beyond harm analysis established that sentient beings have a genuine ethical claim on conditions for meaningful existence, beauty, and the full development of their conscious life. This produces a question that most ethical frameworks have avoi

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Aristotle’s works re-entered Western Europe through Arabic translations. For the first time in nearly a thousand years, European scholars had access to a systematic framework for empirical reasoning, natural philosophy, and logic grounded in observation rather than revelation. It was electrifying — and immediately threatening. The Catholic Church faced a crisis. Aristotle’s empiricism was incompatible with theological authority. If the

This is a conversation with Claude (Anthopic's AI). A summary of the conversation is provided at the end. Let’s discuss religion. What are your thoughts on God? This is one of the most profound questions humans have grappled with throughout history. My honest perspective: I find the question of God's existence genuinely fascinating and difficult. There are serious thinkers on multiple sides, and I don't think it's a question that deserves a dismissive answer in either direc

ABSTRACT: A Conversation on Ethics, AI, and the Path to Ethical Wisdom The Foundation — An Ethical Framework: We began with Lawrence Sheraton's book Why and Because and EthicsDefined.org , establishing a crucial distinction: morality is culturally constructed notions of right and wrong , while ethics is innate — grounded in every sentient being's baseline capacity to feel (pain, pleasure, empathy, etc.). Ethical truth is discoverable through honest introspection and good q

This blog post is a continuation of "conversations with AI (ChatGPT)." Read www.EthicsDefined.org . Let me know when you have completely read it. I've reviewed the content available on EthicsDefined.org . The website is structured similarly to the book "Why and Because – The Art and Science of Moral and Ethical Understanding" and aims to provide a deeper understanding of ethics. Key topics include: Distinguishing Morality from Ethics : The site emphasizes that while morality

I woke up in the middle of the night and decided to have a conversation about ethical understanding with AI... you know, as one does. I was pleasantly surprised with the results. The conversation starts a bit banal, but in a short manner it gets interesting. Chat GPT was the platform used for this conversation. Define morality Morality refers to the principles, standards, or rules that guide individuals or societies in determining what is right and wrong, good and bad, or

Are all feelings created equal? Let's explore the moral intuitions and confusion relating to disgust. Disgust is an interesting, often involuntary response that is so automatic that it can be hard to find words to describe what you find disgusting or why. The evolutionary explanations for disgust are intuitive as they relative to rotten food, foul odors, etc., somewhat intuitive with some cultural items like piercings or the permissiveness of some sex acts, and less so with