The Problem of Evil (XXVII)

[Gemini]

I was under the impression that there's no such thing as good and evil.
No one in the animal kingdom sees it that way, do they?

When baby gazelle get caught by the cheetah in the Savanna, the mother keeps running while the cheetah has a nice meal. That's nature 101.

We have developed social morals so we can live peacefully together.
We now define good and evil based on these current but ever changing artificial "laws".

Therefore good and evil are only relative terms based on when and where you are born.

I think what distinguishes humans from other primates isn't just our intelligence, but our ability to empathize with others. Those mirror neurons that activate and emulate the mental states of other people. We can know what it is like to be someone else. (So long as one is not a psychopath who is missing portions of their prefrontal lobes).

I think when we talk about morality, as laypeople, at an every day, practical level, this is what we're talking about. We treat people like people. We don't dehumanize them, and decide that they're animals, or crazy, or essentially wicked. We don't treat them in a way that would horrify us, if we were so treated.

As far as the philosophical debate on metaethics goes, I think it's worthwhile for philosophers to debate, but not that big a deal to me as a layperson.