Moral realism persists due to deep-seated human intuitions, not objective facts.

Moral language fuels culture wars by turning subjective values into dogmatic conflicts.

Human psychology is hard-wired for dogmatism, impeding the acceptance of moral nihilism.

Moral realism is the view that there are moral facts, that there are objective moral properties out there in the world.

Notions like ‘rights’, ‘wrongs’, and ‘duties’ are leftovers from a pre-scientific age in which dogma and myths ruled over evidence and reason. And much like unicorns, gods, and other fairy tales, they should be consigned to hell.

Despite the pride we take from human scientific and technological advancements, our minds, our brains are as much obstacles to these achievements as they are its cause. Humans are largely irrational and addicted to their own intuitions, which we had to overcome in order to develop modern science.

Of course, even when it comes to science, we have hardly overcome this psychology. The rise of anti-scientific sentiments is not a reflection of the realization of flaws of science, as some conspiracy theorists may proudly proclaim, but simply a reflection of our poorly designed primate brains (from the perspective of finding out truths about the world).

But when it comes to morals, our thinking has barely changed from our ancestors. The dogma of moral realism firmly remains part of much of our modern culture. This is emphasised perhaps nowhere more strongly than in today’s culture wars, which have turned differences in subjective values into the death of reason itself. For we now know quite well that participation in political causes tends to diminish your capacities as a reasoner. Much like rooting for a particular........

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