The Human Animal (Humans)

by dhw, Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 17:00 (5581 days ago) @ xeno6696

Matt and I are in agreement that removing man from his special place "doesn't change at all how we assign meaning or uphold our laws." And the punk singer's line is great! - I had a very long discussion with Mark (a reverend) some months ago, and he seemed ... presumably like Adler ... to believe that without God humans were incapable of living good moral lives, since they would then believe in a free-for-all. I hope that's a fair summary. There is no-one at the moment on this forum who will defend that point of view (that's an open invitation to anyone out there), but it might be worth asking ourselves exactly where we do get our moral sense from. On the assumption that none of us are murderers, rapists, child abusers, thieves etc., why is it that - disregarding the obvious social constraints - even if we don't believe in an all-powerful, all-seeing god or gods, we still genuinely care about our fellow creatures and do not always simply put our own interests before those of others? - Just in case anyone thinks this is proof that humans are "special", let me sing a hymn of praise - no punk band backing I'm afraid - to ants, which knock us sideways when it comes to altruism. - A message to David: I'm afraid I haven't read Victor Frankl. But I don't think there is anything original in my belief that meaningfulness does not depend on eternity, God, or a special place in the universe. - And a message to Matt: I'm sure I'm not the only one anxious to know how your exams went. I will type better if I can uncross my fingers.