In this episode, the AI hosts continue their exploration of Tending the Garden by J. Daniel Alejos, turning to Chapter One: The Innate Sense of Morality. This discussion digs into one of Alejos’ most foundational claims — that morality isn’t invented or negotiated, but recognized. Beneath culture, language, and opinion, there exists an “invisible ought,” an internal compass that quietly but insistently points toward the good.
Through clear, reflective dialogue, the hosts examine how this idea challenges modern relativism and self-constructed ethics. They draw out Alejos’ argument that every person carries a visceral awareness of justice and violation — the deep-seated difference between preference (“I don’t like broccoli”) and wrong (“You broke a promise”). They also unpack the irony of moral inconsistency: how we often deny objective morality in theory while depending on it in practice.
The episode explores Alejos’ view that culture doesn’t create morality but interprets it — different traditions may express respect or honor in varied ways, yet all point to a shared moral reality. By the end, listeners are invited to pause and acknowledge that internal compass, however buried it may feel. This chapter—and conversation—set the stage for what follows: if morality is real, what happens to us, individually and collectively, when we try to live as though it isn’t?
