Addendum: Atheism and morality (Introduction)

by dhw, Thursday, October 21, 2010, 13:53 (5124 days ago) @ xeno6696

I questioned Matt's view of moral evolution from "the raw ancient lust to tyranny, to one where the individual is respected above all", as I think this misrepresents early, so-called "primitive" cultures. I also took "tyranny" to mean the abuse of power by a cruel and unjust ruler.-MATT: Tyrant in the ancient sense means those that came to power by their own will; not by hereditary means. [...] Tyrants don't always have to be bad.-Ugh, ugh, how is your worldwide fan club supposed to know that you picked on the most recondite meaning of the word? But I'm not so sure that the ancient meaning tells us any more about the evolution of morality than the modern meaning. Perhaps, though, "raw ancient lust" is a better marker for the point I was trying to make. I doubt very much whether even cavemen were allowed to bonk any woman on the head and carry her off to have their wicked way with her, and in the west there is still a lingering prejudice about so-called "primitive" societies ... especially African and South American ... which in fact had very sophisticated social structures and their own strict moral codes. However, I'm only trying to set the record straight. Our discussion concerns the origin and nature of morality, and we both agree that there is no such thing as objective right /wrong, morality has always varied from culture to culture, and is still determined by each society.