Atheism and morality (Introduction)

by dhw, Monday, October 18, 2010, 21:15 (5295 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

TONY: I have said many times that I think humans have the capacity to know the difference between right and wrong, but not the capacity to do the right thing. The idea that a societal consensus can define something 'right or wrong' is utter rubbish. What society can do is make something legal or illegal, which has little if anything to do with right/wrong or moral/immoral. There does exist a 'right/wrong', but it does not lie in a book, or society, or in a legal system. It lies in the 'heart' of a person.-I'm surprised that you dismiss this argument as "utter rubbish". Do you believe a baby is born with an innate sense of right and wrong? In order to survive, it has to be completely selfish from the moment of its birth. It makes no concessions to anyone. Concessions in the form of consideration for the feelings of others have to be taught, and I would suggest that such concessions are the basis of our morality. What is taught will depend on the environment into which we were born. This need not have anything to do with what is legal or illegal. To take two common examples, adultery is not illegal in my country, whereas it is in Iran. I personally would regard it as wrong, however, because I would be hurting my wife and probably others as well. However, if I had been born an Eskimo before Christian missionaries came along, there would have been circumstances in which adultery was the accepted thing, and it would have been "wrong" to refuse. Similarly, the idea of having sex with a child is repugnant in our society ... morally and legally wrong. But there are many cultures where child brides are still subjected to sex at the onset of puberty or even before. According to some sources, Mohammed consummated his marriage to Aisha when she was nine years old. Do you suppose Mohammed felt guilty? Concepts of morality are inextricably tied to times and to societies. -However, individuals will also have their own personal codes. I doubt if every murderer, rapist, child molester, thief, selfish bastard in Britain or the States has the same concepts of right and wrong 'in his heart' as you or I do. To that degree one could argue that since there is no objective universal criterion, societal consensus can't make a definitive decision morally ... only legally. I would argue, though, that it's a "good" thing we in Britain have a societal consensus which morally and also legally condemns murder, rape, child abuse etc.