[fusion event]How to ground morality

Grounding morality has been one of the perennial challenges in philosophy. The difficulty of doing so led to one of the more famous bumper sticker slogans in philosophy: “one cannot get an ought from an is”. The belief in an objective morality is so strong in us, that many philosophers have tried none the less. Here is a quick summary of multiple methods:

Aristotle tried grounding morality in the “is” of teleology. Most things have a purpose – clothes are to provide warmth and protection, parents are to provide nurturing to children, arrows are to provide a weapon n hunting and warfare – hence it would be immoral for parents to abandon their children, for one to use clothes as a dishrag, or to use an arrow as a doorstop.

Command theory derives morality from power. If a being has power, they have the right to decide the rules, and “right” is what they say it is. Theist command theorists limit this right to God(s), but Hobbes, in The Leviathan, because of the criticality of society not breaking down, applied this principle to kings. Jack London, appealing to the evolutionary advantage of any Alpha in a pack – extended this principle to every pack leader.

Another method is to derive morality from reason. Living things are the only source of value. They cannot generate value unless they remain living, free, and can pursue happiness, hence life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness are inalienable rights.

Another method to derive morality is from the centrality of sociology. Rights thinkers primarily see society as the enemy of the moral entity that matters, the individual, and reference rights to defend individuals. However, Hobbes considered the society the more important. As do social relativists, who hold each society to be the moral arbiter, and Eusociality holds that evolution has geared us to even HAVE morality in order to make sure we sacrifice for our society, rather than being free riders.

John Rawls applied game theory thinking to the question, and argues we should structure society as if we know not what role we will play in society, and try for minimization of initial life detriments.

Deep Ecology references the centrality of life for all value, but instead of either individuals or sociology being prioritized, it focuses on the networked nature of ecosystems in the biosphere, and puts the welfare of the biosphere as a whole as the highest moral good.

Empirical thinking holds that our moral intuitions detect a real moral feature of the universe, and our moral sense reveals what is truly moral. While our social conditioning may distort this sense, a cross-societal evaluation can sort moral signal from the noise of unique societal norms. The most recognized cross-societal moral systems are Utilitarianism, Rights ethics, and Virtue ethics.

Finally, post-Structuralism demonstrated that cultural presuppositions end up embedded even in our evaluative tools and metrics, and those presuppositions are skewed to maintain current power structures. Harm minimization is therefore maximized by prioritizing the welfare of the socially disadvantaged over the elite.

What do you folks think of these various efforts to derive morality from:
Teleology
Power
Evolutionary principles
Social stability
Reasoning from Life
Game theory
Ecologic principles
A moral sense
Harm minimization

Do any of these work better/worse than others?

Are there a subset that are of greater interest?

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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------PS -- Wegman's has made an exception to their "no meetings" rule for us. They ask us to be non-disruptive, and for most of us to purchase food or drink. If someone asks, we have been given permission to meet by Ayana Douglas.