Massimiliano B wrote:"I prefer the good ones because they are good to me" doesn't mean anything to me.
I understand.
For me, wondering about it past this point feels like a futile exercise, because I don't think there needs to be an answer to it, and also because I think ultimately the answer is "I/we don't know". If someone hypothesises about some kind of universal or objective values and their sources, it remains hypothesising to me. There is no way I could know that they are connected to the objective truth better than me, or a sadistical sociopathic killer. The people with the 'truth' often seem to disagree. And in practice it always ends up being subjective anyway.
This kind of mere guesswork doesn't help me solve moral problems, because I still couldn't really solve them
morally by going against my own morals. There's nothing the objective values could add to the process. It would become either command morality (which is scary in its randomness), or I would just happen to agree with the objective values, making them indistinguishable from subjective values to me.
If I can't reliably connect to the ultimate truth, and distinguish it from illusions, what good is it to me or anyone?Likewise, the naturalistic theories about how empathy and philanthropy might have developed to be so complex in humans because they were useful to us as social animals don't solve any of my real world ethical dilemmas (they're not supposed to, either). To solve ethical dilemmas, I can only use my inner moral compass, although naturally I can try to sort of cultivate that compass by engaging in critical thinking and listening to others and observing real world consequences.
Massimiliano B wrote:I understand you. But I do that (I express what I think) because I think, in the inner part of me, that there is an ultimate truth somewhere, inside me or outside me.
Yes, okay. I see what you mean. I can't really give you the reason you seek.
Granted, I can see how a sense of an ultimate truth would make it seem more legitimate to you to try to spread your values. I guess what I can't fully see from your perspective, is why there needs to be a 'truth'. Why there needs to be that ultimate legitimation. The need for that is missing from me. I can hear you when you say that you want/need/believe in it, but I can't fully imagine what that feels like, because I don't desire it. To me, the human race is basically just fumbling along, making it up as we go. But we're similar enough to each other that many of us share crucial values, and thus we become motivated to drive human society in certain directions. We do it because it feels like the right direction, but I don't really think my values are some kind of 'truth' in the grand scheme of things.