|
THE |
|
a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects. |
|
|
THE |
|
a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects. |
To: alt.pagan,alt.religion.wicca,uk.religion.pagan,alt.startrek.vs.starwars,alt.chaos,alt.space.monkey.invaders,alt.bible From: paulhume@comcast.net (Paul Hume) Subject: Re: Silly Religion Date: 28 Jul 2003 10:06:10 -0700 > How does 'reason' know what morals are 'good' or 'evil', since there is no > good or evil without God. You seem to disagree that there can be a rational basis for designating actions as good or evil unless there is a religious mandate to do so. Yet systems of ethical philosophy have done so for centuries. Indeed, man ethical philosophers have tackled the question to examine whether one can have a consistent system of ethics outside of a religious context. Rational bases for ethical systems include: - the well being and stability of the community - the well being and quality of life of offspring - insuring the well being of others to insure one's own etc... Yet you seem to want to assert that honor, or responsibility, or even enlightened self interest cannot provide a firm basis for ethical judgements, but that ethics must be imposed from "outside" the individual, and indeed, are only effective when backed with an explicit or implicit threat of Divine punishment for unethical actions. > So someone who reasoned a conclusion is never wrong? What if I felt it was > morally reasonable for me to kill you for no purpose. Would that be okay? You would need to demosntrate that this was essential to your own well-being, AND explain why it was not all right for someone else to kill you at whim (unless it IS all right for someone else to kill you at whim). You would need to demonstrate how these decisions preserve your own existence, advance the goals of the community, and indeed, why they serve the purposes of the person you kill. You seem you have not demonstrated that it is morally reasonable for you to kill your correspondent. You have merely posited "what if" it is morally reasonable to do so. Is such action commensurate with the events surrounding it, for example? Does it overrule the claim society has placed upon preserving the life of its members? Is the only reason not to kill at whim because of the Decalogue? (Or the Dhammapadda, or the Vedas, or other religious instructions which take a dim view of killing at whim). If your view is that humans are only capable of ethical action under threat of divine punishment, then you need to make that clear - most of your posts, forgive me, seem to be saying that if that factor is absent, there is no other reason for moral action, which is inane. It is a moral system that a five year old, or a thwarted criminal adult, might adopt - "if only I wouldn't get punished for being bad, I would be so bad" - but it speaks more to their stunted ethical judgement that it does to the ethics of more mature individuals around them. Paul
|
The Arcane Archive is copyright by the authors cited.
Send comments to the Arcane Archivist: tyaginator@arcane-archive.org. |
|
Did you like what you read here? Find it useful?
Then please click on the Paypal Secure Server logo and make a small donation to the site maintainer for the creation and upkeep of this site. |
|
|
The ARCANE ARCHIVE is a large domain,
organized into a number of sub-directories, each dealing with a different branch of religion, mysticism, occultism, or esoteric knowledge. Here are the major ARCANE ARCHIVE directories you can visit: |
|
interdisciplinary:
geometry, natural proportion, ratio, archaeoastronomy
mysticism: enlightenment, self-realization, trance, meditation, consciousness occultism: divination, hermeticism, amulets, sigils, magick, witchcraft, spells religion: buddhism, christianity, hinduism, islam, judaism, taoism, wicca, voodoo societies and fraternal orders: freemasonry, golden dawn, rosicrucians, etc. |
SEARCH THE ARCANE ARCHIVE
There are thousands of web pages at the ARCANE ARCHIVE. You can use ATOMZ.COM
to search for a single word (like witchcraft, hoodoo, pagan, or magic) or an
exact phrase (like Kwan Yin, golden ratio, or book of shadows):
|
OTHER ESOTERIC AND OCCULT SITES OF INTEREST
Southern
Spirits: 19th and 20th century accounts of hoodoo,
including slave narratives & interviews
|