Morality and mathematics

Abstract

If we presume mathematics is universal while morality is cultural, these practices demand distinct pedagogies: Mathematics becomes a uniform requirement while ethics becomes a variable elective. However, the idea that mathematics is an essential part of the core curriculum is relatively new. Why must everyone be taught mathematics given that mathematicians are so rare? Studying mathematics and ethics expands the scope and unity of our world through abstract and analogical reasoning. From an evolutionary perspective, these disciplines are co-adaptations, mutually sustaining cognitive capacities with shared origins in our distant past. Concepts such as equality and fairness depend upon mathematics for their meaning, if not their merit. No formal instruction is ever value-free and the most efficacious teachers can answer the perennial question, “what is this course good for?” Humans vary with respect to abstract reasoning skills and a variety of mathematical languages are spoken around the world. Even so, we should promote mathematical literacy by cultivating those cognitive capacities that make mathematical reasoning and moral deliberation possible. Integrated approaches to mathematical and moral instruction may be more efficacious than teaching each in isolation. We need to value math education if we want to make moral progress just as we need to value human intellectual variation if we want to make mathematical progress.