For almost a hundred years, philosophers have largely given up discussion of morality in terms of objective values. Yet public and political appeals to moral ideals are growing louder than ever: witness the recent reactions to the Charlie Hebdo attack. Clearly, morality still matters. But on what grounds?

In this issue of IAI News, author and outsider philosopher Chris Bateman argues that the foundation of Western morality is an arrogant faith in rational truths. In practice, morality is far from rational, and therefore its truths cannot be universal. Dismissing the relativist rejection of all moral truth, Bateman finds a middle ground in the idea of an Ethical Multiverse – in which objective moral truths are created within their own conceptual frameworks. Such a concept has important consequences for multiculturalism.

Bateman goes on to argue that morality rests on imagination – the ability to conceive relations between entities and experiences – a quality we share with other animals. Like Bateman, neuroscientist Molly Crockett also suggests that morality might not be unique to humans. She suggests that, in practice, moral behaviour may based on deep-seated evolutionary instincts and therefore unrelated to rationality.