On May 11, 4:23 pm, scattered <[email protected]> wrote: > Harris is superficial. Science describes what *is* not what *should > be*. Science can be used as a tool (and not the only tool) to draw > conclusions from certain essentially moral premises (such that the > species *should* be preserved, and with a minimum of pain) but it > can't establish the truth of those premises.
I'm glad you mention that example, because that's the kind of thing I mentioned in the past when arguing with people that morality is all subjective. Most humans would say preserving our species is a good thing, but what is the objective basis of that other than a kind of instinctive desire to continue the species? How do we know if some "greater good" might be accomplished if humans are wiped out and some other species is then able to flourish? That sounds far fetched to me, but it just seems like an embedded value-judgment to even assume that being good to each other or perpetuating our species or perpetuating life on Earth is a "good" thing. Pain is another good example. I want to avoid pain. I can't function if I'm in too much pain. I try to avoid causing pain in others in the hope that they'll treat me nicely too, and because I don't like seeing others in pain. But is it objectively good or important that I continue to function? Is it just my personal feeling that other people shouldn't be in pain or that I shouldn't be in pain? (Note that I'm not endorsing those positions, just mentioning them for the purposes of this discussion. I do have a personal moral system more or less, but it seems subjective, maybe "instinctive", and I'm annoyed that I can't find an objective basis for morality. Meanwhile, basing morality on one religion or another doesn't help, because those seem like subjective decisions about which religion to believe, some of which assert that they have objective bases for morality because the Bible says so or God says so or David Koresh says so, whatever.) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "A Civil Religious Debate" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/a-civil-religious-debate?hl=en.
