Diversity and Morality Crossing borders with engineering approach

The world has been shrinking because of rapid advancements in communication and transportation technologies, and the age of globalization and multidisciplinary integration has been clamorously announced. However, there is no universal agreement on a unified idea of morality. Through this book, we intend to present a unified model for human morality. First, we identified three current moral problems that evoke divided views on morality and pose serious conflicts with diversity in culture. Second, we classified the previous representative thoughts on morality into two categories: society-based and individual-based. We then pointed out the limitations of both categories. Third, we built a unified model of human morality, which appears to explain human reality consistently. Fourth, we shed insight into the uniqueness of human morality in comparison with other animals. Fifth, we investigated the relationship between human morality and human language to reveal that human uniqueness resides in virtual acquaintance enabled by human language. Strictly speaking, human language alone can transmit information beyond both time and space, and this characteristic makes it possible for us to virtually acquaint ourselves with those whom we have never met and will never meet, that is, without direct or real acquaintance. We call this type of acquaintance, indirect or virtual acquaintance. Finally, we proposed a means to reconcile human morality and diversity based on a mechanistic understanding of human morality.
 

(Written by TEI Yuichi /Ung-il Chung, Professor, School of Engineering / 2018)