Reason Rally (Introduction)

by dhw, Monday, April 02, 2012, 15:17 (4596 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

More views from the agnostic's fence, in response to recent posts:-1) Reason tells us that if we cannot answer a question (e.g. what was/is the first cause, how did life originate, what is the source of consciousness?), we should keep an open mind. However, there has to be an objective truth, and those who believe they have found it ... whether through science, reason, intuition, experience or observation ... should respect the views of those who have different beliefs or no beliefs at all, since no-one KNOWS the truth. -2) Science is the study of the material universe. -As a result of science, there has been increased understanding of how the material universe works, and there have been enormous benefits for our quality of life.-As a result of science, there have been developments that represent an enormous threat to the quality and even the existence of life.-Science only studies the material world, but one cannot assume that all aspects of life are explicable in material terms. There are many unanswered and perhaps unanswerable questions, which could suggest that science may even be a hindrance to our understanding of the universe. -The study of the material universe has nothing to do with morality, but the uses to which scientific discoveries are put raise moral issues which are the general responsibility of scientists, politicians, doctors, industrialists etc., and the individual responsibility of each of us.-3) Morality varies from culture to culture and from period to period. Judgements can only be based on (inter-)subjective criteria. Current western criteria are different from the current criteria in, say, parts of Africa and Asia. The violence, corruption and greed of modern times are on an incomparably larger scale than 3000 years ago. These facets of human nature do not seem to have changed throughout recorded human history, and even if they are now officially deemed immoral in some parts of the modern world, that does not mean that the modern world behaves more "morally" than the ancient.