Science is unflinchingly deterministic, and it has begun to force its determinism into morals. On some shining tomorrow a psychoanalyst may be put into the box to prove that perjury is simply a compulsion neurosis, like beating time with the foot at a concert or counting the lampposts along the highway.
Interpretation
The quote discusses the deterministic nature of science and its implications for moral behavior.
H. L. Mencken highlights the idea that scientific determinism, which frames human actions as predetermined by psychological conditions, may extend into the realm of morality. He suggests that future advancements could reduce moral transgressions, such as perjury, to mere psychological compulsions, much like involuntary physical habits, thereby challenging the notion of free will in ethical decision-making.
In practice
In a debate about the influence of science on moral decisions, one could reference this quote.
I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.
It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him
It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the practice of all of them to limit its exercise, and sometimes very narrowly.
The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
It is the unseen and the spiritual in people that determines the outward and the actual.
Everyone has a responsibility to not only tolerate another person's point of view, but also to accept it eagerly as a challenge to your own understanding. And express those challenges in terms of serving other people.
Long live the weeds that overwhelm_x000D_ _x000D_ My narrow vegetable realm!_x000D_ _x000D_ The bitter rock, the barren soil_x000D_ _x000D_ That force the son of man to toil;_x000D_ _x000D_ All things unholy, marred by curse,_x000D_ _x000D_ The ugly of the universe.
Anyone who hasn't experienced the ecstasy of betrayal knows nothing about ecstasy at all.
Perhaps I can say that I am a bit astute, that I can adapt to circumstances, but it is also true that I am a bit naive. Yes, but the best summary, the one that comes more from the inside and I feel most true is this: I am a sinner whom the Lord has looked upon.
It was the same way with silence. This was more than silence. A deaf person can feel vibrations. Here there was nothing to feel.
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