- Joined
- Feb 6, 2010
- Messages
- 3,779
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- Location
- California
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- Political Leaning
- Moderate
I have arrived at this somewhat against my own desires, but I am finding it difficult to navigate around this particular philosophical stumbling block.
I want to know there is an absolute black/white good/bad standard for things like morality...but as far as I can see, there is none.
The classic desert island scenario where two men are shipwrecked on an island helps highlight this. One man takes a knife and kills the other, what about this was wrong?
Everything about the sequence, if examined, is considered perfectly morally acceptable in certain circumstances. We have surgeons that cut into flesh, many people dont want to die, and many people harbor the intent or thought of killing others.
So what about a higher arbiter, a deity? If a deity is the source of absolute morality, then where did he/she receive the authority to create and enforce morality? In the end, they have the power to create and enforce morality only because they have power, so might makes right?
I want to know there is an absolute black/white good/bad standard for things like morality...but as far as I can see, there is none.
The classic desert island scenario where two men are shipwrecked on an island helps highlight this. One man takes a knife and kills the other, what about this was wrong?
Everything about the sequence, if examined, is considered perfectly morally acceptable in certain circumstances. We have surgeons that cut into flesh, many people dont want to die, and many people harbor the intent or thought of killing others.
So what about a higher arbiter, a deity? If a deity is the source of absolute morality, then where did he/she receive the authority to create and enforce morality? In the end, they have the power to create and enforce morality only because they have power, so might makes right?