I haven't discovered what serves as your foundation for right and wrong.  What is the worldview behind your beliefs?  If you're not a follower of Judaism, what guides you in evaluating right and wrong?

Do you believe in a personal God?  Is humanity ultimately good or bad?

Sincerely,

Kevin L. Howard

CHOMSKY'S RESPONSE

July 26, 2006

Dear Mr. Howard,

My foundation for right and wrong is exactly the same as yours, and everyone else's: my moral intuition, part of our shared human nature, which is modified by experience and which, if we are serious, we try to refine by reflection, interaction with others, experiment, etc.

There are those who mislead themselves into thinking they have found some other basis-say the precepts of some organized religion.  That is not true.  One reason is that the tenets of every such cultural system allow multiple interpretations.  Another is that the choice itself has no foundation, and from a moral point of view, is perfectly arbitrary.

On a personal God, the question of belief is too imprecise to have an answer.  What is it that one is asked to believe in, or not.  Is humanity good or bad?  Question is meaningless.  We all know that humans-in fact each of us-is capable of a range of actions from noble to awful. 

Sincerely,

Noam Chomsky

See our second round of correspondence: http://www.neednotfret.com/content/view/18/55/