RE: Where do atheists get their morality from?
September 14, 2012 at 1:55 pm
(This post was last modified: September 14, 2012 at 1:57 pm by liam.)
(September 12, 2012 at 8:04 pm)Undeceived Wrote: You misunderstood me. Altruism is not impossible for atheists because they are created by God with a moral code like anybody.Assumptive speculation, you start with an unproved assertion. I am not arguing it is not correct (which is probably also true) but rather that you are professing a theory on an inherently indefinite foundation, which is (1) never prudent, and (2) a terrible argument.
Quote: I argued that altruism would be impossible if humans evolved. Perhaps I should ask you: how does altruism fit with evolution? Be careful in your answer, because many scientists believe true altruism does not fit at all. Take Richard DawkinsWhy would it be impossible? This presupposes that evolution provides morality and selflessness, which is not exactly true. Admittedly, it can be given that certain ethical attitudes are conducive to evolution yet this is not a causal relation. What if, perhaps, morality was drawn from rational reflection and not biological-psychological necessity? Then your criticism is irrelevant at best. I don't want to talk about Dawkins, he isn't every atheist's guide to life.
Quote:Do you think morals are still morals even if followed for selfish or robotic reasons? If so, your definition of moral is different from a Christian's.
Yes, yes I do, because the action is what is judged, not the motivation. Let me tell you why in short form:
1) You can't know motivation so you can't judge it, that is just ridiculous.
2) The action is what we are judging, not the motivation, somebody who saves someone else from a burning building performed a good act without their motivation being considered. They did it and they deserve approbation regardless of their motivation for doing so.
3) This would imply that such things as a bad motivation are bad, thus a moment of passionate motivation to evil is more immoral than an actual killing with good intentions. This is clearly impermissible.
4) This leads us to judge only the unknowable, not the actual action, which is ridiculous.
Religion is an attempt to answer the philosophical questions of the unphilosophical man.