Atheism and morality (Introduction)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Friday, October 22, 2010, 21:12 (5123 days ago) @ xeno6696


> Good writing. 
> -Thank you :)-> However--though we'd like to separate our will from that of the social organism, you still haven't answered the critical question; that which we call 'moral sense,' be it a 'feeling' or derived by logic: How is it that we can derive its reality beyond that which the society makes real? 
> -In short, you can't. Morality only exist in context of the interaction of living beings. As an attempt, you could say that it would be morally wrong to slaughter buffalo to extinction even if you were the only human being alive. But that does not mean that societies morality is right or wrong.-> I still hold (and dhw to some degree) maintain that morals are a function of society. You have actually countered yourself already when you defended laws of Deuteronomy in one of our previous discussions, as having a basis in another purely moral concept called "health." In that post you defended anti-adulterousness, the position of being anti-sodom, (in regards to sexual preferences--both hetero and otherwise), and against the virtue of promiscuity. Your position in that thread was that of the "personal welfare," though your real target was the "common good." (Though to paraphrase Nietzsche, "common" and "good" are oxymorons.) 
> -Health is not a moral concept, it is a physical reality. The rest were social standards.-> My point is that you appear to adhere to a rather conventional morality yourself, and the challenge of dhw and myself is such that conventional morality is exactly that which is and was delivered to you by the world in which you were raised. You praise the ancients, but also forget that the morals of ancient Greece included male rape as a consequence of war. The story of Spartan boys in the agoge as being male sexual pairs to older Citizens is partly true. The only philosophy allowed in Sparta was that of phobos. (The study of fear.)Some of the boys were subjected to the same treatment that would be expected if they were defeated in the field. 
> -Is there such a thing as conventional morality? Also, while I will defend the writings of the bible, that does not mean that its morals are my own. It simply means that I can see the logic and rationale behind them. As for the ancients, I praise their wisdom and intellect, not their morality.