On becoming atheist - the tug of war (page 15)

AGuest

Grazie mille, il mio amico... e ancora pace a voi!

SA, da sola...

PSacramento

What Einstein understood, far as I can tell of anything he understood, is that ethics and morals reside within men and only men can create and apply them in whatever form they take.

Relative morals and if all morals are relative then none are absolute and as such, there are no morals.

All morals are relative, Paul. I recall watching a documentary on an Amazon tribe - I do not recall its name - that was revolted by the thought of the researchers in their midst eating eggs. To eat an egg was immoral because it was consuming an innocent unborn creature. The researchers, meanwhile, politely refused to take part in eating the roasted spiders the tribespeople enjoyed so much - although that was more a gastonomic preference than a moral one.

You do realise we've had this discussion before, right? I suggested that some employers would consider blogging while at work (like you're doing right now) to be theft of time and unauthorised use of equipment that does not belong to you, and therefore immoral. You do not see it that way, because your work is not suffering in any way, and maybe your employer is ok with it and you are therefore not stealing, although your shareholders may not see it the same way at all. Still, it's a safe bet you keep your screen obscured from wandering eyes. In this small example, your morals are as relative as your employer's and your shareholders' are. There are seemingly absolutes, I think, but those will tend to be absolute in the sense that they are absolute to the majority. I daresay the majority of those who espouse Christianity, perhaps a small majority at this juncture of our social and philosophical evolution, hold that homosexuality is immoral. The Bible sure says it is. But, I think you would have to agree, that too is a relative morality.

PSacramento

Yes, we have had this discussion before, but if all morals are rleative than are there any morals at all?

And if all morals are relative why would anyone have a problem with something bad being done to THEM?

Nickolas

People would still have problems with someone who applies their relative morality in such a way that harm is done to them. Of course. Just because all morals are relative does not mean, to me at least, that they are irrelevant. We have a tendency to evaluate morals on the sometimes intangible qualities of "good" and "bad". I may find aspects of a day on the Great Lakes to be "good" or "bad" based on what my agenda is. If I'm out fishing, I don't want it to be too windy, but if I'm out sailing I don't want it to be too calm. There are gray areas in questions of morality, too. Doesn't mean they don't exist or should be abandoned.

PSacramento

I don't want to derail or highjack your thread and like you said, we discissued this before :)

Nickolas

Not at all, Paul. I always thoroughly enjoy intelligent conversation, even when it goes on a bit of a tangent.

PSacramento

I am always curious as to where an atheist gets his view on morals from?

A few books have been written of course, from genetic evolutionary stand points and so forth, but I always find they bring up more questions than answer.

For a believer the ultimate source is God, put aside WHICH god for now of course, but that God is the source of the knowledge we have between good and evil, right and wrong, between what we want to do and what we ought to do.

For the atheist it seems, to me, that they use a "salad bar" approach, they take what they like from Theisim ( an absolute good moral) and disreagrd the rest ( not that I blame them of course).

Nickolas

I am always curious as to where an atheist gets his view on morals from?

Ultimately they come from inside him. Did you watch the vids posted by SBC? The second one speaks to your question.

PSacramento

Ultimately they come from inside him. Did you watch the vids posted by SBC? The second one speaks to your question.

Videos are tricky for me to watch because I don't have volume on my PC, LOL !
And what, dear Nick, inside you originates these morals?

Don't tell me you hear a voice telling you the difference between right and wrong, do you? ;)

On becoming atheist - the tug of war

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