OPPENHEIMER’S CHOICE Refl ections from Moral Philosophy RICHARD MASON OPPENHEIMER’S CHOICE SUNY SERIES IN PHILOSOPHY George R. Lucas, Jr., editor OPPENHEIMER’S CHOICE Reections from Moral Philosophy RICHARD MASON State University of New York Press Published by STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS, Albany © 2006 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, address State University of New York Press 194 Washington Avenue, Suite 305, Albany, NY 12210-2384 Production, Laurie Searl Marketing, Michael Campochiaro Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mason, Richard, 1948- Oppenheimer’s choice : reflections from moral philosophy / Richard Mason. p. cm. — (SUNY series in philosophy) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-7914-6781-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Technology—Moral and ethical aspects. 2. Ethics. 3. Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 1904- 1967. I. Title. II. Series. BJ59.M38 2006 170—dc22 2005020545 10987654321 To Eline Tolstoy and Maya Tolstoy, scientists This page intentionally left blank. Moral philosophy has, indeed, this peculiar disadvantage, which is not found in natural, that in collecting its experiments, it cannot make them purposely, with premeditation, and after such a manner as to satisfy itself concerning every particular which may arise. When I am at a loss to know the effects of one body upon another in any situation, I need only put them in that situation, and observe what results from it. But shou’d I endeavour to clear up after the same manner any doubt in moral philosophy, by placing myself in the same case with that which I consider, ’tis evident this reflection and premeditation wou’d so disturb the operation of my natural principles, as must render it impos- sible to form any just conclusion from the phænomenon. We must therefore glean up our experiments in this science from a cautious observation of human life, and take them as they appear in the com- mon course of the world, by men’s behaviour in company, in affairs, and in their pleasures. Where experiments of this kind are judiciously col- lected and compar’d, we may hope to establish on them a science, which will not be inferior in certainty, and will be much superior in utility to any other of human comprehension. —Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature, Book I, Introduction This page intentionally left blank. CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter 1 The Value in a Story 13 Chapter 2 A Point of Choice? 23 Chapter 3 One Large Fact 39 Chapter 4 Curiosity 55 Chapter 5 Responsibility 71 Chapter 6 Irreversible Change 93 Chapter 7 Purity 117 Chapter 8 The Lessons of History 135 Notes 161 References 173 Index of Names 181 [...]... “transition from popular moral philosophy to metaphysics of morals” that forms the second part of the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals Kant thought it clear that “all moral concepts have their seat and origin [Sitz und Ursprung] completely a priori in reason.”6 THE VALUE IN A STORY 17 Suppose we want to debate a speciic choice, such as Oppenheimer’s acceptance of the leadership of research at Los Alamos... responsibility These issues became sharper with the building of the hydrogen bomb from the late 1940s, then even more obvious with the growth of civilian nuclear power from the 1950s The Holocaust of the 1940s or Stalin’s purges of the 1930s or the Chinese famine in the 1950s may all seem to call for new moral categories Yet most of the horrors of the twentieth century are all too INTRODUCTION 9 repeatable... principles of morality, as to whether it is also worthy to serve as an original example, that is, as a model; it can by no means authoritatively provide the concept of morality Even the Holy One of the Gospel must irst be compared with our ideal of moral perfection before he is cognized as such Imitation has no place in matters of morality, and examples serve only for encouragement.1 13 14 OPPENHEIMER’S CHOICE. .. narrative or only as moral law? Or, once again, from the other direction: if we could reach no conclusions in moral philosophy about an individual life, what would be the point of the activity? This opening chapter is needed to map out the scope of what can be done: to assess what Kant might have called the possibility of moral philosophy (though Kant’s own thinking was at the polar opposite from the style... OPPENHEIMER’S CHOICE Oppenheimer, but on ourselves relecting on him Few of the relevant facts are in doubt The real problem is what to make of them A large part of the interest is that we do not know what apparatus to use—what attitudes or forms of judgment might be appropriate Philosophy often requires some relection on itself just as moral judgment always relects something on the nature of morality,... (as he is), but with the idea (of humanity), as he ought to be, and so comparison with the law, that must serve as the constant standard of the teacher’s instruction He had made his point even more provocatively in the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals of 1785: Nor could one give worse advice to morality than by wanting to derive it from examples For, every example of it represented to me must... single choice? a series of choices? a life? a life in science? a personality? Even in picking one single act of choice a decision to accept a job at Los Alamos—the implied framework of appraisal, consequences, and regret is so indeterminate that there can be no uncontroversial starting-point Stronger and clearer thoughts come out from Kant’s step toward what he called the moral law Kant wanted a “pure moral. .. between biography and philosophy, reigured as a particular case and universal morality Part of the trouble with it lies in Kant’s hyperbole The justiication for his exaggeration of morality into what he called a “system”12 was not at all self-evident In the example that he drew THE VALUE IN A STORY 19 from Rousseau for the Critique of Practical Reason, someone was pressed, on pain of execution, “to give... the irst creation of atomic weapons Chapter 6, Irreversible Change, considers the asymmetry in cognitive growth—here, the question of whether we get a new moral world from a radically new physics There is a link with questions of responsibility: Faust There may be a link with questions about curiosity: Pandora’s box The possibility of total nuclear destruction added a further dimension of irreversibility... questions—judgments—that might arise would include: Was this a good or a right choice? Was it a free choice? What were the alternatives? Then, any imaginable level of debate will require generalities— choice, ” “right”—and any level of debate that could be described as moral may require language or concepts that entail some view of morality: What factors were or should have been taken into account? Would . Philosophy RICHARD MASON State University of New York Press Published by STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS, Albany © 2006 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No. OPPENHEIMER’S CHOICE Refl ections from Moral Philosophy RICHARD MASON OPPENHEIMER’S CHOICE SUNY SERIES IN PHILOSOPHY George R. Lucas, Jr., editor OPPENHEIMER’S CHOICE Reections from Moral Philosophy RICHARD. recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, address State University of New York Press 194 Washington Avenue, Suite 305, Albany, NY 12210-2384 Production,