From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jan 01 2005 - 14:30:26 GMT
Ham:
You say with fervor:
> Obviously, the taking of a human life is evil, whether it is done in the
> name of Allah, capital punishment, free choice, warfare, or self-defense.
That my friend is an assertion of a universal moral standard -- "The
taking of a human life is evil." It reflects Commandment #6, "Thou shall
not kill," written on tablets of stone brought down from Mt. Sinai by
Moses as the revealed word of God.
Now I know you reject the Biblical story and all things religious as
"moral authority." So my question to you and to preacher Edington and to
anyone else who considers the taking of a human life to be evil is: "Where
did you ever get that idea?" After all, killing other human beings has
been considered acceptable moral behavior by societies for millennia.
You see, Ham, although this site brings up all sorts of philosophical
issues, it all got started with Pirsig's "Inquiry into Morals" and his
metaphysics which sets out the initial premise that the universe is
structured morally, that is not put together by chance combinations of
masses and energies as scientists claim, but by " . . . the principle of
"rightness" which gives structure and purpose to the evolution of all life
and to the evolving understanding of the universe which life has created."
(Lila, 30)
So my question about universal moral standards isn't something I glommed
onto after a few scotch and sodas on New Year's eve simply to get you
riled up, but goes to heart of what's really important about the MOQ and
indeed about the role of philosophy in the modern world now that God, the
moral authority of the ages, is dead. If you view of "morality is
relative" is what your "essence" philosophy concludes, then God help us
all because in your philosophy, who is to say anything is good or evil?
With best wishes for the New Year,
Platt
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